If you give the Host Club an American, they're gonna fight
by Queen of Jinxing
Summary: Mara only came to Japan because Clare wanted her to, she doesn't leave because Clare doesn't want her to. but will she go back home anyway after her world starts crumbling, her resolve starts breaking, and her past is revealed? rated M for violence, future lemon, slight lime, future mention of rape, and continuous cussing
1. Chapter 1: Damn Clare

Clarabelle was giving Tamara the biggest headache that she's ever had, in history. Countless wrinkled pictures of the male species were, now, dotting her desk as Clare found it her duty to ball up said pictures, unceremoniously toss them onto her desk, and prod her with the tip of her finely sharpened pencil until she opens them, looks at them, read the annoying little side note that expresses her fangirlism, and responds. Needless to say, those responses were filled with swear words and most, if not all, hit her only friend in the head.

Her notes were torn slightly, where her pencil had ripped through while she was writing, no doubt from the extreme amount of pressure she was bestowing upon it, it had to be sharpened at least fifteen times.

The class was down to it's last ten minutes and another picture found it's way on to her desk in all of it's balled up glory and a sharp pencil found it's way into her shoulder blade. If Clare didn't stop this instant, she was going to be a big bruise when she was done with her.

"Open it, open it, open it, open-" Clare was cut off when her writing utensil was wrenched from her grasp, a resounding snap rang through the air, and the two halves hit her in her nose and between her eyes.

"Touch me again, and you will regret it, I promise." Her friend's low growl hit her hears hard and the hair on the back of her neck stood up, but she just smiled, even if Mara couldn't see it.

"There's a real beef-cake in there, look at him!" she excitedly whispered in Mara's ear with a perverted look upon her pale, flawless face.

"I don't care, there's about five minutes left and I want to finish writing these things down!" she growled again, and an irritated sigh escaped through Clare's light pink lips as she rolled her eyes.

"Last one, promise!"

"You're such a fangirl!"

"Just shut up and look at the sexy beast!"

"No! Leave me the hell alone!"

"Look at him!"

"No, bitch! You can take this picture and stick it up you're-"

"Tamara, Clarabelle, you're needed in guidance." The teacher's voice was irritated as he scowled at them; Tamara scowled right back as Clare grinned her dopey grin and pulled her as she stood up.

"Yes sir, McMillan-sensei!" her enthusiasm only caused Tamara's scowl to deepen as she stared at the floor. Her notes were unfinished and the guidance counselors said that if she was sent there again, then she'll be suspended, maybe even expelled. Even if she was a violent person, her academics were always one of the most important things to her.

* * *

Tamara's shock was hidden well as she stared at Mrs. Young with half-lidded eyes and a frown on her face, Clare, it seems, wasn't blessed with her friend's poker face, as she was squealing like a school girl and was trying to latch herself onto Mara, but said girl's hand was keeping her arm's length away.

"So, this school, they want us?" Mara's deadpanned voice was barely distinguished over the other girl's screams of contentment. Mrs. Young let out a long breath as she nodded her agreement then looked at them with a small smile and amusement dancing in her eyes.

"You two are the smartest children in the country, how could any school not want you? If you choose to attend, you will have to place in the top 6 of the school for you're scholarship to remain, you're flight will be paid for by the school entirely and so will the first month of housing as you get comfortable any where you decide to live. Any questions?"

Clare had gotten up and was now dancing around the room and Mara shook her head slowly, eyebrow twitching and jaw set. This caused the counselor to chuckle and shake her head. "Well, get going and talk to you're parents. Call the school when you have an absolute answer." She barely finished her sentence as the seated girl was quickly dragged out by the blonde who called out, "bye Young-sensei!" Before going back to her paper work, she could only pray for OuranHighSchool and hope that the young ladies don't slander America's name.

* * *

"Look at my baby, you is so grown up!" Mara smiled slightly at her aunt with sadness in her eyes. Ever since her parents died when she was 7, her aunt was the one who took her in, fed her, clothed her, taught her how to be a strong, independent woman, and how to kick ass and never back down. If there was one person she was going to miss, it would have to be Aunt Yolanda.

Yolanda was "big boned" and proud of it, independent, loud, and the stereotypical American black woman.

"It's fine mama, I be back 'fore you even know I was gone." And that stereotypical American black woman passed her ways to her niece. Everyone knew Yolanda and how she'd give the shirt off her back to help anyone in need, and also her extreme protectiveness of Tamara and her family, if you want to get hurt any of them then you have to go through her…and nobody wants to go through her.

"I'll miss you auntie!" Clare yelled as she launched herself at the large black woman, and hit the ground boobs first when that woman stepped out of the way in one large side step. Her groans were barely registered to Mara, as were her aunt's "You better watch yourself, child. I don't got time for you're mess. What the hell's wrong wit cha? You must be crazy to come at me like that", as Clare's mother came and began to try and smooth out her wrinkled, baggy shirt and began to fuss over her. Who knows how the young girl would have turned out if it wasn't for this short, Asian woman and her dotting personality?

"You have all you need, right? 'Course you do, huh? I jus' worried." Her oriental accent was shown as she continued speaking while trying to smooth out the rumpled sweatpants. Akane Grayson was from Japan herself, which is more than likely the reason that her daughter is fluent in the language. She was short, pale and petite with raven hair and inky black eyes. Her husband Jack Grayson, on the other hand, was a tall, tan, and built with platinum blonde hair and deep blue eyes that always held amusement in them.

"We'll see you both soon, you have to promise to call us everyday and tell us whatever happened, okay?" he spoke in his usual enthusiasm and a bit of unease.

"We promise daddy!" Clare was suddenly upon them, well more so her dad, she was literally upon him, clutching onto his neck as he turned blue from her death grip that she enjoys calling a hug. She was gone just as soon as she was there and was back on the ground next to Yolanda, groaning and hugging her chest.

"I dun toll you, I don't got time for you're mess. If you just try to gimme a hug, the come 'ere and gimme a hug. Don't come flyin' at me, tryin' ta break my back." Those words were all that she needed, apparently, to scurry and get up, latching her self onto the black woman.

"Flight 145, to Kyoto, Japan. You're flight leaves in ten minutes. Please make you're way to the gate, please make you're way to the gate." The announcer says through the speakers. Then the water works started. A group hug commenced, resulting in everyone crying shamelessly in front of the terminal, save a gasping Tamara who was trapped between her aunt's bust, which was so big, that she really thought she might get lost in there.

"Flight 145, to Kyoto, Japan. You're flight leaves in five minutes. Please hurry to the gate. Can the group in the center of the terminal please disband? You are making the other passengers uncomfortable, thank you."

* * *

The flight was uneventful; being the only people in first class caused Clare to become board, so she resorted to continue what she started in history about a week ago. This resulted in a few things.

First of all, Tamara seemed to get angrier and angrier every time she was poked.

Secondly, she was threatened to have the picture shoved down her throat.

Third, the argument that concluded caused a flight attendant to hurry to settle the disturbance. It seemed as if the yelling was making the coach passengers nervous.

Forth, and finally, the argument between them and the attendant caused them to be "detained" in the back of the plane with a fat "police officer" that was hell bent on eating his donuts, no matter what or who was watching him. He just turned his back on them, and since he so plainly ignored them, the argument that ensued almost caused the "officer" to use his pepper spray.

Oh, it was a long ride indeed.

* * *

When they landed (after almost 24 hours) the first thing that they heard was an announcement for them to come to the station. Tamara glared and scowled at anything that dared to look at her, so not many people choose to look at her, naturally; Clare wasn't looking that chipper either, she just looked pitifully at those who looked at her, which was rare because of her company.

The scowl that met the receptionist caused a shiver to run up her spine and the growl made her skin crawl.

"_What. The. Hell. Do. You. Want_." It wasn't a question, she was demanding an answer. Even if she didn't speak English, she understood that this woman was unhappy and probably Tamara or Clarabelle.

"Are you Clarabelle?" she asked timidly, shaking slightly. This caused the girl to snort as she looked her up and down.

'These foreigners are so scareable.' She thought, not even taking note upon how she's the foreigner.

"_Tamara, now tell me what you want, or so help me god I_-"

"Hello! I'm Clarabelle! I see you met my friend, _Tamara why don't you go sit down and I'll take care of this_!" she glared at the blonde, then turned and trudged to a seat by a large window, her face and aura scaring off the small children that were playing there. It wasn't until she sat down and made herself comfortable and her eyes drifted shut did Clare turn her attention to the obviously frightened woman. Mara can be a pain in the ass in the mornings, but when she hasn't had a good sleep and she's forced to interact with people, it's not good for anyone. The only reason that she decided to step in was because her ghetto friend was using proper grammar, that's when you know something's about to go down. It wouldn't have surprised her if she threatened to bomb the place, getting them in trouble with the police once again.

"Sorry about her, it was a rough trip." The woman nodded her head, her hand was poised under the counter, and no doubt that there was a security button under it, as she snuck a glance at the brunette that was now sleeping soundly, even if children were crying loudly to their mothers.

"You have a note Clarabelle-san, could you and you're friend please leave? It seems that you-"

"Are making the other passengers uncomfortable? Yeah, that's what we were told in America too." She almost grinned, but the crappy flight took some of the energy out of her, so it was just a small smile. "I'll try, but she doesn't take kindly to waking up. Her blood type's AB positive, if that tells you anything." The woman's eyes widened comically and she handed her a note that seemed to be written on expensive stationary as far as Clare could tell by the texture and the beautiful broidery lining the edges of the paper. Their names were written in elegant cursive on the front. With a light nod and her smile still in place, she walked to her sleeping friend. Then, she proceeded to push her off of the bench she was sitting on.

_"Come on, we have to go apartment hunting, silly sleepy head~!" _she giggled and chanted 'silly sleepy head' in English while prodding the clump on the floor with her foot. A murderous aura practically filled the airport; making almost everyone tremble, the blonde in question's hair on the back of her neck stood up straight but she paid it no mind.

"If you don't leave right now, I will throw you out the window, and won't mourn you're death." Her tone was matter-of-fact and scarily calm, that caused small children to clutch onto their mothers and the temperature to drop a few degrees. A sigh rang through the quiet terminal and Clare crouched down by her friend with a pout tugging at her lips.

"c'mon~ we have things we need to do~! It's already noon, and I'm tired, can we hurry and find an apartment, so I can sleep? We have to be fast, or all the stores will be closed~." There was a groan and the heap on the floor began to move and mumble insults and curse words that would make Yolanda slap her, no doubt about that. The scowl that Mara set on her face was so strong it was as if she was trying to make Clare's head explode.

* * *

**Clare's P.O.V.**

I giggled happily when the sunshine hit my face while we window shopped. Our apartment was just too cute, a two bedroom one bathroom, a livingroom, and a kitchen/ dining room; with the right accessories, this'll be the cutest apartment ever!

"_Can we go? I'm so tired; I'll sleep on da floor." _she mumbled, her eyes half lidded and she was slouched forward slightly. A frown was right at home on her face. I swear, if she just smiled…

"No, and you should start speaking Japanese, since we're, ya know, in Japan." She just rolled her eyes at me.

_"I've spent hours listening to Rosetta Stone, and I still barely know the damn language. Don't tell me what to do."_

"Just try." I encouraged her with a smile.

"You're such a retard." Her face was one of pure concentration and her speech was heavily accented. It's only natural that she'd learn how to insult me, so I didn't pay it any mind.

"Why didn't you start practicing a week ago?" I asked her casually while I looked at colorful bowls and other kitchen things in the window of a target the store. I laughed maybe a little too loud judging by the stares passerby gave me when I saw a reflection of her confused face. I could tell that she resorted back into her glare when people hurried away from us.

"I thought that mama wasn't gonna let me come. Ya know how she gets." She mumbled then sighed. "Well, if you're so hell bent on turnin' my livin' space into a rainbow, then hurry it up, I'll be lookin' in Mattress Warehouse and Lazyboy to get beds, a couch, and a recliner. Hurry up; we need to meet the principle at five and it's already three." She finished and sauntered away. Crap, I forgot about the meeting… I just hope it's fast, 'cause I really am tired.

It was about thirty minutes later, when Tamara decided to grace me with her presence.

"You not done yet? Damn, you better hurry up. The people are dropin' the shit off in about an hour. And you have to get ready to go." I screamed and clutched a cute purse to my chest; she has the worst habit of sneaking up on people.

"Excuse me if I care about what we're gonna live with, how did you get done so fast anyway?" I questioned her after I removed my hand from my heart, which was beating hard in my chest, damn her and her ninja-like qualities. She shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly and ran a hand through her long, curly hair.

"It wasn't really hard. I got you and me queen sized beds and a comfortable couch, and **my **recliner. Don't worry, they ain't ugly." I let out a breath; her version of comfy isn't usually cute, at all. I smiled happily and recited what I collected.

"I found these cute bowls, plates, cups, pots and pans, and I got normal silver ware," which is a shame, I saw some floral patterned forks and I almost cried as I walked away. "I found a small dresser for your room and a big one for mine, a few TV's, and a couple of laptops, they were all on sale! Can you believe it?" I didn't wait for her answer and kept on going. "Also a few lamps, a few tables, a couple rugs, and a vacuum cleaner, a broom, and a mop with a bucket. They said that they'll have someone cart it over to our place…I hope they're cute~." An image of a muscular guy, wiping a light sweat from his forehead, no shirt…

"You is a nasty little thing." Mara sighed with an indifferent look upon her face, I just grinned a perverted grin, yes grinned. There's nothing better than shopping to get my energy back to the hundreds.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her to pay; I can't wait until it all gets there. Then I get to go to sleep-

"We won't be able to put everythin' in place 'fore we got to get to the school. Seems as if we'll have to pull an all nighter." She growled with obvious dislike while she ripped her arm from my grasp and sauntered to the pay counter.

I forgot about the meeting... and an all nighter?

Well damn it all!


	2. Chapter 2: Damn Tours

**Clare's P.O.V.**

"I refuse." Was all that Mara said, not looking up from her book, Romeo and Juliet.

"You can't wear that, this is a high end school!" I whined, why must she be so difficult?

"I don't give two damns and a fuck, jus' leave me alone. I wanna read." She mumbled, obviously lost in her book, the spine was cracked and the worn because she's read it so many times. She absolutely loves that book, I know that it's not because they die in the end, even if she tells me it is.

"They're not that bad, honest." So what if I'm lying, sue me. The only way to get her to wear this damned this is to lie to her about it. This marshmallow that they call a dress is horrible. I'd like to meet who designed the thing, shove it down their throat, and hope with every fiber of my being that they slowly die, choking on it.

"You is such a bad liar. Jus' change out of the damn thing, ya know ya wanna." She's so, so right.

"B-but…" I can't think up a good argument, damn it I was never a good persuader, always better at being persuaded. I'd love to be in a pair of my cut off shorts and a tank top.

"Jus' do it." She said again.

"Okay!" I giggled happily and ran to my suitcase, normally i wouldn't give in this easily, but if I had to go out of this apartment butt naked or wear this cream puff alone, I'd go naked. Stripping down to my underwear and bra, I began to redress my self. I don't care if she saw me, it's not like she doesn't have the same things I do, if you don't know what those things are then wait until your sex ed class- they should tell you.

As I slipped on my flip-flops, I heard something slam, probably the alarm clock she set. Oh dear lord, she hates those things.

"We gotta go. It's 4:10." I pouted.

"Why is our apartment across town again?"

"We poor and the places around the school cost more than your life." She said with a smirk. It's nice to know how much I mean to her.

"I'll call a cab, you get them things" she gestured to the yellow marshmallow lying in a heap on the floor. "together so we can take 'em back."

Her cell phone was already out and against her ear. So I returned my monstrosity to it's drycleaner bag, and reached out for hers, still in it's bag, but wrinkled from being thrown at the wall, and stepped on a couple times.

"They be here soon, you 'kay?" she questioned, I must look as bad as I feel, but I smiled shakily back to her. Even if I feel sick.

"It'll be over 'fore ya know it. We just gotta visit the principle, go see our classes, explore a lil' bit, then we be back an' straighten things out here. Wit' any luck, we'll actually get some sleep tonight, eh?" she finished with a smirk and laid her hand on mine.

"Okay…" I stated, she squeezed my hand before she stood and stretched. I winced when juicy pops filled my ears, I hate that sound.

"I'm gonna go make me a sammich, want one?" she asked, her deep brown, almost black, eyes met mine and a small smile tugged at my lips.

"Naw, I'm cool." She rolled her eyes at the phrase that I took from her but kept the smirk. She hasn't done much smiling since I met her; I only saw a real smile grace her face a few times.

But that's a story for another time.

"Suit yourself." A one shoulder shrug and one and a half minutes later she was back, a sandwich in her hand, a chunk missing from it, and crumbs falling onto her baggy sweatshirt and baggy blue jeans. She was going for another bite when a car horn honked.

"Well, ain't that jus' a mouth full of ass."

"We're going to a super rich school; please stop talking like a truck driver."

"I can say what I fuckin' want, when ever I fuckin' feel like it. I don't give a damn if it embarrasses you, asshole." The horn honked again and she turned and just walked out, leaving her sandwich on a box.

"I have a feeling that she said that just to bother me."

_"Hurry and get you're fat ass down here, bitch!" _I heard a yell and a long stream of honks.

_'At least she had the consideration to say it in English.' _I thought before I sighed, grabbed the ugly dresses, and closed and locked the door, not before I thumbed through her book, took out the bookmark, and closed it. I have to have some payback, right? don't look at me like that, i'm not a horrible person!

* * *

The school was pretty if you asked me, but of course, no one ever asks me. So I just voiced my opinion to Mara, whose eyebrow was ticking in aggravation, while she sauntered to the building. I just need to set one thing straight, Mara doesn't just walk places; she travels with an air of ultimate badass, so big that it effects her walking. She can only swagger of saunter, never walk…ever.

"Isn't this so cool? I've never seen a school this big, or pink!" did I mention that pink is my favorite color? Well it is.

"It's amazing." I could almost see her sarcasm.

"Quit being a kill joy, and let me live my princess dream~!"

"Put on the dress, you'll look like a princess then, won't ya?" she snickered as I stopped walking and deadpanned.

"No way in hell, heaven, or on earth." They don't look princessy at all! "You just ruined my dream."

"You can mourn it later; we have a meetin' in 5 minutes."

* * *

The woman took one look at us and turned up her nose, literally, and eyed us with distaste, me specifically.

"Are you lost?" she snorted.

"No, but my fist is 'bout ta find it's way to your face if you keep lookin' at my friend like that." Mara's heavy accented growl caused me to smirk after we stood in silence for a few minutes. she was trying to make sense of what the woman just said and i was just waiting for the smartass comment that she would make. I love how protective she is.

"Excuse me…"

"Tamara and Clarabelle, American scholarship students."

Her eyes practically bugged out of her head, this only caused my smirk to widen.

"We got a meetin', and if ya look at her like that again, then your face will pay for it." My violent friend growled and grabbed my hand. I suck my tongue out at her before I allowed myself to be dragged to a set of double doors that, as Mara would say, probably cost more than my life.

She violently kicked them in. I love it when she gets violent.

A man looking thoroughly shell shocked made me giggle.

"Yo, that woman out there needs ta be fired or some shit. Is that how you like ta greet you're students?"

"Excuse me miss…"

"Tamara Nicholson and Clarabelle Grayson, fucktard. I'm about ready ta walk outta here if somethin' real good don't happen real soon." I could tell that she didn't really care about what he said. She just likes stating her displeasure when ever she can. Her glare apparently didn't really bother him as he shot up and grabbed her to his chest.

"Awe, you Americans are so cute when you're mad! Oh my, where are my manners?" Mara's teeth bared and she pushed him off of her.

_'I'm assuming you left them at home…but whatever!" _I thought and laughed quietly, so I don't get the same treatment Mara did.

_"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you a retard or somethin'? And why the fuck do you smell like flowers, that's a lil' gay, asshole!" _she yelled, but again that didn't seem to bother him.

"I'm chairman- our you might like to call me principle- Suoh!" he's a little flamboyant, wouldn't you say.

"That's all fine and dandy, but I don't care." There she goes again, glaring and sneering, she's probably just getting a little annoyed because she can barely understand what these people are saying.

"What my friend means to say," I butted in when he went into a dark corner and Mara looked like she was about to punch him. "is that we have a lot of unpacking to do at home, so the sooner we get back, the better." How the hell did he get this close to my face?

"Ah, I see, it must be hard for two foreign commoners-"

_"Excuse me?"_

_"-_to be thrown into a world of beauty and riches. And one of you can barely speak our language."

_"I speak kickass, and I'm about to give you a lesson!" _she pushed her sleeves to her elbows, showing her tattoos, and dropped the dresses. Everything seemed to pause when he kneeled down and cradled the ugly things in his arms.

"You can keep those." He looked at me with puppy dog eyes; I shifted uncomfortably in his gaze.

"Why?" my rude brunette friend opened her mouth, and I stepped in before she could say something to make him go back into his corner, even if that is one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen, the faster we get home, the faster we can put everything in place, and the more beauty sleep I can get. I need my beauty sleep.

"Because, we're not used to wearing-"

"Such exquisite clothes? Oh how inconsiderate of me! I must apologize young maidens, of course! As remuneration for my carelessness, I invite you to wear whatever your hearts desire!" I was going to say uniforms…but whatever floats his boat.

"Can we jus' get a map so we can get ta our classes?"

"Of course fair maidens!"

"Can you stop saying that? It's kinda creepy." My deadpanned voice reached his ears and he found his way back into his corner. With a snicker, my fellow American grabbed a map from the stack on his desk, and swaggered out the double doors. I followed after her, stuck my tongue out at the rude woman behind her gigantic desk, and caught up to her. I almost laughed at her face, I'll never tell her this, but she looked adorable when she concentrates. And this is about the most concentrated I've ever seen her.

"The romaji's on the back." She looked at me confused "it's Japanese but with English alphabet." She nodded slowly and turned it over. We stood there for a solid five minutes before it seemed to click.

"M'kay, follow me." With a little giggle, I followed her down a wide hallway. This place really has style.

* * *

**Third P.O.V.**

It was a normal day for Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi. The twins harassing the brunette as she ignored them and wrote down her notes. It got slightly less normal when yelling was heard in the hall, so loud that it broke through the thick, oak doors.

"Damnnit, will you just shut your trap? I know where we're goin'!"

"That's rich! You barely know left from right, you prideful bitch!"

"Go get fucked, ugly whore!"

"I would, but you got us lost!"

It was silent in the room as the insults and less than proper words were exchanged between the two people out side, then the teacher rushed out to solve the problem. More yelling resounded before two girls were lead in, one angry looking and embarrassed while the other was just angry looking with a glare and scowl on her face.

"These are the new American transfer students, be respectful. Clarabelle-san, you're up first." The blonde didn't mind the fact that the teacher mispronounced her name or the shocked class when they made the connection that she, a chipper blonde, was one of the two that were trading insults in the hallway. She had platinum blonde hair and deep blue eyes. There wasn't one blemish on her pale, porcelain skin, but the perverted look on her face as she eyed all the males like pieces of meat made many shift in their seats. She had long legs that were shown off by jean shorts, which looked more like underwear than anything, and a flat stomach that was shown off by a tight tank top, and her fingers sported neon pink and orange nails. Her ears were pierced and large hoops dangled from them and she had lip gloss, eye liner, and mascara on her face, maybe a little blush.

"Clarabelle-san?" she stayed still with her look upon her face as her gaze slowly swept the room. A swift, hard punch to her arm by the other one brought her out of it.

"What the fuck, Tamara?" there was a collective gasp from the class.

"It's you're turn, dork." Came a heavily accented answer that caught everyone's attention immediately.

"Oh, right." She took a big step forward and plastered a huge grin onto her face. "I'm Grayson, Clarabelle, but you all can call me Clare. I was one of the smartest kids in America, and now I'm here…that's about it!" she stepped back and pushed the one known as 'Tamara' forward.

She had brown eyes, so dark that they were almost black, dark brown hair with an array of subtle highlights. Black, light brown and ginger were almost unnoticeable in the still wet mass, as if she just took a shower. Tan, almost caramel colored skin was radiant, but you could tell it was natural and not sun based. Her legs were covered by comfortable looking blue jeans, her upperbody was covered by a baggy gray sweat shirt. Her converse were also gray and she had snake bites dotting her bottom lip and a small studded nose ring. She had no make up, there might be a bit of lip balm but she was looking down some what, obviously not wanting to introduce herself, and a shadow covered most of her face.

"I'm Ta-" a sharp jab to her ribs caused her glare to move from the floor to the blonde at her side, who gave her a look. "I'm Nicholson, Tamara, call me that.-" the other one cut her off, yet again.

"Call her Mara!" 'Mara' paid the outburst no mind and continued on.

"I was one of the smartest kids in America, and now I'm here." She looked up and glared at them all in turn. "I don't want any of ya ta touch, breathe, hell, don't even look at me." Her accent was so cute, no one really noticed her threats, except her friend, who swiftly dug her elbow into her ribs one again.

"If ya do that one more time, then we'll be down one transfer student!" Mara yelled at the blonde.

"Quit being such a rude dick, and then maybe I would." Clare yelled at the brunette. Before another argument could break out the teacher intervened, much to the twins' displeasure.

"Clare-san and Mara-san-"

"It's Tamara."

"No it's not, you're fine. Keep going!" the teacher gave them a questioning glance and continued.

"-will be here for English, and will go with our lunch. They must continue visiting their other classes, but I think we can spare a few quick questions." There was an irritated sigh from the brasher American as a sea of hands suddenly met her eyes. The teacher chose a girl in the front row, her ginger hair up in pigtails.

"I heard that Americans were rude and their commoners were worse, is that true?" Clare responded as her friend tried to comprehend what the teacher said before. Why the hell did they have to talk so fast? It's almost like one big buzz!

"Sometimes it is, but don't worry… not many act like her." she jerked a thumb back to Tamara and giggled at the 'awe's that came from some of the students. The teacher picked another, a boy with black hair and black eyes.

"This is for Mara," her head snapped to him, her eyes narrowed. "Can you speak English for us?" there were shouts of agreement from the class, mostly the twins. She caught her name and "speak English" from that conversation, and a smirk crawled onto her face.

_"If y'all don't stop looking at me like I'm the next messiah, then my shoe will go so far up you're ass, you'll be able to taste it." _They clapped, having heard actual American English when all they really ever hear is actual Englishmen English, because of them being so close it's easier to fly them here than an American. The teacher, on the other hand, was not as pleased. Her eyes widened and she quickly wrapped it up.

"Can I get a volunteer to escort these young ladies to the second year class rooms?" everyone's hand shot up, except for one.

"Haruhi-kun, if you would please? Thank you! Everyone else, please turn to page 362 in you're books." She turned away as everyone reluctantly did as they were told.

"Let's go ladies…" Haruhi said uncomfortably to the drooling blonde and glaring brunette.

_"I don't need a damn escort; I could find my way jus' fine." _Mara mumbled and pushed Clare out the door violently, making Haruhi sweat drop. She was glad that Clare said not all Americans were like this one.

* * *

"So, Haruhi-kun, what's the high life like?" Clare asked him about five minutes later, most of that time she was staring at her (Haruhi), like she wanted to eat her and the rest was trying to convince Mara to let her listen to her Ipod. The argument that followed almost made Haruhi laugh, but she didn't want to be cussed out in a mix of Japanese and English if she could help it.

"Actually, I'm a 'commoner'." She replied and it was quiet, except the quiet thudding that could be heard from the headphones in Mara's ears.

"Oh, so are we!" she bumped into Mara, causing her to lurch forward and her headphones to fall out of her ears.

_"Your mom says hi, jinx!_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no no!_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, jam!_

_Summer time in the city, and everybody's havin' sex!"_

_You know, I just got a page form a girl that I met last week at the payless!"_

_Shoe stores…I also have a cutie to call, who loves the way I knock on her boots!"_

_Awe, less talkin' back, let's handle that! In two to six hours, we'll meet back and regroup, now let's shoot!"_

_Roll up in the crib with some bottles and jams"_

_Hop off the bus with the alias!"_

_Now hold up player, what'chu diggidy doin' here?"_

_I should diggidy ask you the same"_

_And she says…"_

_Hey boys I want you both, I hope that you think that's cool"_

_Say what?"_

_I know most guys won't freak together…"_

_Well, she forgot about the golden rule, ahahaha!"_

_It's okay, if it's in a three way, it's not gay, when it's in a three way! With a hunny in the middle, there's some leeway! The area's great, in a one, two, three way!"_

_Now normally, I don't get down with dudes-"_

_But tonight is a special exception!"_

_Great!"_

_See, you're my best friend, through thick and thin, now it's time to make a triple connection!"_

_Light's off…"_

_Here in the dark…"_

_Here in the dark!"_

_It's so hard to tell…"_

_So hard to tell!"_

_Where her body ends…_

_Lalala~"_

_And my homie's begins!"_

_Can we~?_

_This rule dates back-"_

_The golden rule!"_

_To ancient Grease!"_

_Talkin' about Ceaseur!" _

_With two jack triples and a crissy and a new three's company!"_

_…"_

_It's okay, when it's in a three way, it's not gay, when it's in a three way! With a hunny in the middle, there's some leeway! The area's great in a one, two, three way!"_

_Hey fellas, get ready…to impress a chick-helicopter dick! Go! Helicopter dick"_

_Uh!"_

_Helicopter dick!"_

_Alright!"_

_To impress a chick, do the helicopter dick!"_

_Wow~…"_

_And all of that was okaaayyyy~ _

_'Cause it's in a three way, it's not gay when you see the instant replay! Maybe two is enough, that's what they'll say! But we'll say hell no, one, two, three way!_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-"_

_The golden rule…"_

It was quiet, Haruhi's eyes were wide and she looked back and forth between the blonde and her fellow brunette, to make sure she heard right. Of course, deep down she knows she had. English was one of her best subjects.

"Don't fuckin' look at me like that. It's her fault…" Mara mumbled, bent down and picked up her Ipod. Putting the buds in her ears, she sauntered ahead of them.

"You comin' or what?" she called over her shoulder, Clare skipped after her, a perverted smile on her face when she glanced back at Haruhi. She couldn't help but sweat drop at the pair as she hurried after them.

"H-hey! You don't know where you're going!" she yelled half heartedly as she rushed.

"We find it."

"Hurry Haru-kun, we need to hurry and go home!~" Clare giggled and Haruhi sighed.

'Haru-kun?' she thought and a cloud of dread situated itself over her head and she just trudged along behind them, correcting if they made a wrong turn.

* * *

It wasn't long before they made it to class 2A.

"It was nice meeting you, see you tomorrow." She smiled and turned away form the swooning blonde and the brunette that had a raised eyebrow. Thank goodness that was over, she doesn't think that she'll ever get that song out of her head, it's playing itself over again,as we speak.

"Bye Haru-kun~ See you soon!" there was a slap and a monotone voice.

"You sound like a dweeb."

"Don't fucking hit me!"

"Quit actin' like a love sick puppy, it's embarrassin' me, you jackass!"

"I don't give a flying shit!"

"Don't talk like that to me! I taught you those words!"

"ASS, ASS HOLE, BITCH, CUNT, DAMN, FUCK, GOD DAMNIT, HELL, JACKASS, MOTHER FUCKER-"

She was cut off when she was tackled by, you guessed it, Tamara, her Ipod forgotten on the floor, music blazing and barely heard over the insults and thumps from the quelling pair on the ground.

"H-hey! Knock it off!"

Haruhi stated, trying to pull Clare off Mara, before they switched places. Lord knows she won't be able to pull the darker girl off anything. The teacher took this moment to rush out of the room and check on the noise. Haruhi instantly dropped the blonde's shoulders and backed away while they kept at it.

"I'll murder ya, and they'll never find your body! I swear ta ya!" came an accented battle cry as the pair rolled over and Mara was on top. Students pooled around their teacher and stood shocked, not sure what to do, they had never seen a physical fight first hand.

_"May I have you're attention please? May I have you're attention please? Will the real Slim Shady-"_

_"DAMNIT ALL!" _Mara yelled in English as she launched herself at her music player and savagely ripped the ear buds from it. Her and her friend sat there for a minute before a grin and a smirk spread across their faces.

"That was fun." Said the smirking one with a snicker and the other laughed while nodding her head. Haruhi and class 2A looked to them in disbelief.

"Beautiful maidens such as you shouldn't roughhouse like common boys!" an overly flamboyant voice drifted out. It made the pair stiffen, expecting the principle to glide out in all his creepy glory. Clare was pleasantly surprised to see a tall, blonde, semi-European, boy stepped elegantly through the crowd, who parted and made a path, with a boy that gave off an aura of impending doom. Tamara noticed Haruhi try and become one with the wall. she was ding quite a good job at it.

"what would such beautiful women get so passionate about to get physically violent with one another?" he asked, crouching down in front of Clare, who was trying to get her long, straight hair to go back in place, a feat easier said then done. He cupped her chin genially in his hand, and she went from looking at him drooling slightly ad a perverted shine in her eyes, to lying on the floor, twitching slightly, eyes closed, and her perverted smile that seemed to continuously appear ever since she entered the school.

The blonde boy looked helplessly at her still form.

"Don't worry, she spazzes out all the time." he turned his head to see a bent form, the other girl was dusting off her pants and didn't even spare her friend a glance. She stood up, stored her I pod and headphones in her sweatshirt pocket, and stretched, popping her back and a few things that the rich kids didn't know could pop. After she was done she looked at her friend, sighed and shook her head, but fondness could be seen gleaming in her eyes. She casually swaggered over to the blonde and delivered a swift kick into her upper thigh.

The girl sprang to life. Her knee was brought up and she rubbed the spot that will more than likely bruise while she glared at the other girl.

"I was having the best dream of my life, heartless bitch." This caused a collective gasp from everyone but Haruhi.

"Such vulgar words!" the blonde boy gasped and fell onto his bottom, as if the word actually hit him, but no one paid him any attention.

"Why dream when he's in fronta ya?" Mara snickered at her friend's confused face and motioned to a confounded Tamaki. Her face turned beet red and she looked on the verge of another fainting spill, but a softer kick stopped that and she pulled herself up from the ground. They stood there awkwardly while the others stared at them, the brunette opened her mouth, most likely to say something vulgar, rude, or a combination of both, but the teacher rounded them up and herded them in side, unfortunately for Haruhi, she was swept up in the crowd and pushed into the classroom, left to stand uncomfortably by the door. Luckily though, everybody's attention was on the new students so no one, not even Tamaki, noticed her presence.

"Please introduce you selves to the class." The teacher said, eyeing them warily, the brunette gave away their nationality, so he made the connection that they were the new transfers. Clare took a giant step forward.

"I'm Grayson, Clarabelle, but you all can call me Clare. I was one of the smartest kids in America, and now I'm here…that's about it!" she smiled after she was done reciting the introduction she gave to class 1A and stepped back. Mara sighed and took two decent steps forward.

"I'm Nicholson, Tamara. I'm from America, as ya'll could probably tell and truth be told, I wanna go back. But I can't." she told them all boredly and backed into her original spot.

"You can call her Mara!"

"Call me that, and I'll hurt ya."

"No she won't! She's a big softie!" Clare latched herself onto the Mara, her death hug pinning her arms to her sides. Her lip was drawn back, and her teeth were bared as she growled. She most defiantly didn't look like a big softie.

"Clare-san will be in this class for math and science class and Mara-san will be here for Japanese and History class. There will be no questions…" he eyed a boy with brown hair and black eyes, who hastily lowered his hand. "because the bell will ring soon and these…lovely ladies have to get with their class to eat lunch." He turned to the two; Mara was casually stepping on Clare's foot, to snap her back to reality when she starts drooling while looking at the guys in the room. "You are dismissed." The Blonde was literally dragged out by Mara and Haruhi. They were out the door before Tamaki had a chance to hug his 'darling daughter', this made him go into his corner of woe and several girls try to comfort him.

* * *

It was awkward in the hallway to say the least. Haruhi stole glances but didn't say a word, Clare was thinking perverted thoughts, and Mara sauntered on, straight backed and her chin held high. Her holier-than-thou effect was brought down when Clare unceremoniously latched herself onto her side and hide to be pried off with nothing but growling, threats, and insults.

"Do you guys do that often?" the question finally burst out of the short brunette's mouth, contemplating how to say it was proving too difficult so she just stated it in her blunt way.

"What?" the response was from a swaggering brunette that didn't even spare her a glance.

"Fight in hallways, swear, insult, and threaten each other?" Clare guessed and she moved into a thinking pose. "We do it for fun. We've done it ever since about third grade, I guess. We always fought." She concluded, a nod punctuated her sentence.

"Why?" Haru prodded.

Mara shrugged up ahead. "No idea. Her face jus' always made me want ta punch it and her voice always made me want to yell at her." you could practically hear the smirk crawl onto her face.

"You're so mean to me!" the blonde wailed and pouted.

"Whatever," she waved her hand unimportantly, like she was literally waving away the comment. "Where we gonna eat?"

"McDonalds!"

"I wanna go ta Burger King."

"But I want a McFlurry!"

"…We could go ta Dairy Queen…"

"…yeah…"

"So DQ?"

"'Kay!" Clare smiled and skipped up to Mara and hooked their arms together. Haru was beyond confused.

"What are you guys talking about?" she questioned cautiously.

**Clare's P.O.V.**

No burger king? I think Mara might just die.

Taking away her burgers is like taking away a fish's water.

"We do have a McDonalds though. It's in the mall a few miles away from here."

Ugh… I want food, but I don't want to walk. I think I'll go hungry for the time being.

_"I ain't walking that far for a damn, __McDonald's __burger."_

Her disgust with the restaurant was obvious.

"Well, what do you want to do?" I asked, still holding onto her arm.

_"I want ya off me, for one."_ She said and pushed me off. I'll just hug her later. _"And I guess we can go see our last block… I jus' wanna go home, I'm tired."_ She yawned hugely and didn't even try to hide it.

"'Kay! Let's go!" I went to grab the sexy beast known as Haruhi and drag him along. Damn, all of these males are fine!

Then the stupid bell rang, Damn it all!

"Bye Haru-kun!" I giggled and walked alongside my friend, who took the map back out from her back pocket.

Haruhi kinda looked relieved when he headed for his classroom… to save my feelings; I'm going to think that Mara made him uncomfortable. She does that more often then you'd think.

"-and we turn right, then it'll be the firs' room on the left side." She stated proudly and sauntered away. I snapped out of my thoughts and scurried after. Damn her and her air of ultimate badass to hell.

"You sure?"

"I was right the firs' time."

"After we went around in a big circle." I murmured, and thanks to her terrible hearing, she didn't hear me. We walked for about five minutes and went up two flights of stairs before I started complaining. There were a butt load of sexy, rich, and datable guys just waiting for me in the lunchroom, but I just couldn't go to them, now could I?

"Keep it in you're pants! You're like a dog in heat!"

"Well excuse me if I want my cake and eat it too! You can't just throw me in a school with these fine male specimens and not expect me to try and seduce them!" she snorted, did she not think I could seduce someone? "It's like throwing a scientist into a room with a new species and not letting them experiment!"

"You hate science."

"That's beside the point! It's a damn good comparison!"

"Shut up! We're almost there!" she growled and stopped outside the door. This'll be the first time we get to appear like we're Barbarians!

She kicked the door in.

Or not… we give America a bad name.

Some of the kids fell from their seats and onto the cold, unforgiving tiled floor. Mara snickered at the ones who fell face first, that made me giggle.

"Excuse me!" the teacher looked half asleep herself as she fumbled with the mouse pad on her laptop to pause a video on what seemed to be World War 2, maybe? I don't really know but I'm almost positive I saw Hitler.

"Hello!" I greeted, chipper as ever. "Sorry about my friend, she gets crabby with out her naps!" I patted my brunette on the head and dragged her in.

**Third person P.O.V.**

After the blonde was swiftly pushed off of the brunette, landed on the floor with an 'oomph' and a dull thump, and glared half heartedly up at the swaggering girl, was the teacher answered.

"We the new scholarship students." The young brunette crossed her arms over her chest, and watched the woman flitter around like a fairy on crack, meth, and speed at the same time, with her eyebrow raised.

"Oh, right…" she glanced at her student's gaping faces and her cheeks tinted a slight pink. "I forgot to mention…" she stood straight and walked in front on the class, blocking out the entertaining whisper-yelling argument between the two. "These are a couple of new students, Grayson, Clarabelle" she gestured to the blonde "and Nicholson, Tamara-"

"Clare and Mara are fine!" Clare yelled pointing to herself then to her now sneering friend.

"Yes, well…" the teacher seemed to have lost her train of thought for a second. "Oh, yes! Clare-san will be with you all for History and Japanese class and Mara-san" Mara created a loud irritated sigh and was then whacked upside her head by Clare. "-will be with you for Math and Science. Now, a few questions will be fine, yes Hitomi-san?" a girl with black hair pinned in an elegant bun on her head and coal black eyes lowered her hand and placed it gently in her lap. An air of snootiness hovered over her like a cloud of poison.

"Was kicking our door in necessary? You could be charged for destruction of school property. And what's up with you're friend's clothes? She looks like a cheep whore. And you're accent is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard! Didn't you think that you should have studied Japanese before you came here?" She stated arrogantly while watched the new girl's face for a reaction. The giggles that she caused was overpowered by the awes when everybody saw her face, the loudest being Mitsukuni Haninozuka; her favorite host. "Well?" she questioned irritably. The class watched Mara's cute, confused face contort into a look of pure fury, and a savage growl escaped her throat; Hitomi leaned back in her seat looking at the girl that was more beast like than she expected.

"Listen here, you scrawny prick! I don't care 'bout the fuck you wanna call me, but you say anything about Clare," she jerked her thumb back to the blonde, who was literally drooling over a boy with auburn hair and grey eyes, who paid it no mind as he watched the blooming cat-fight with extreme interest. "an' you an' me, well, we gonna have a problem. Kapishe?" it wasn't a question, but a demand that didn't leave room for argument as she pushed her sweatshirt sleeve up to her right elbow then proceeded to copy the motions with her other arm. Hitomi sputtered, her look a mix between anger and fear, she'd never been threatened before.

"Do you know who I am?" her eyes narrowed when the foreigner rolled her eyes with a dry chuckle.

"Beside a pain in my ass?" there was a collective gasp. "A nasty bitch with a daddy complex? Or maybe jus' a trifflin' hoe? Take you pick, I got loads a other's you can choose from!" the teacher watched this all amused, a smile was hidden behind her hand and she found it easier said than done to suppress a laugh that was trying to break past her lips at Akitta, Hitomi's rather fish-like face.

"Who do you think you are?" it was silent for a minute as the words were translated in the 16 year old's mind, the glare keeping the argument alive and kicking.

"Tamara Nicholson, American exchange student, an' I'm done talkin' ta ya." She turned away from the girl, ignored her protests, and picked another student. This time, the male that Clare was busy undressing with her eyes.

"Yeah, you?" she gestured towards him and looked positively board, not looking perturbed by the earlier fight, even if she was seeing red, she has a better poker face than some of the pro's.

"U-um, I-I was wondering why you two c-came here…No offence, you can do whatever-!" he was cut off by a loud screech, his eyes opened and he saw the brash American yell at the other who was nursing her foot.

"I don't know a word he's sayin', an' you jus' standin' here like a bump onna log! Do something, useless slut!"

"Pardon me, but these guys are so distracting! You try being me!"

"Shut the hell up and answer that boy's question! I gotta headache and I needa nap." She stated before she slid down the wall and sit Indian style on the cool tile floor. It seemed that almost everyone had a question, and the brunette was half asleep before she heard her name.

"Mara-chan! I have a question for you!" a cute little voice called out and she caught sight of a little blonde boy on top of a tall guy's shoulders, he seemed to be in elementary school instead of high; but appearances can be deceiving.

"Uh, yeah?" she questioned lamely and watched him practically have a spaz attack, but no one else seemed to worry about that except Clare; the guy he was sitting on didn't even blink, even if the kid's flailing limbs almost smacked him a couple times. Mara vaguely heard the words 'What', 'America', and 'like'.

"What's America like, hmm?" she questioned her self while running a hand through her now dry and tangled hair.

"Well, it depends on where ya live, I guess… I lived in the middle of nowhere and everyone was either a jackass, fulla shit, or stupid." She said as she watched his face and ignored the numerous gasps and whispers. "It might be different in other places, but eh, I don't know." She stood up and shrugged a shoulder, cracked her neck, then began to saunter towards the door. "We should go. It's late, I'm tired, an' we still got loads of unpacking ta do." The blonde sighed, wined a little, the followed almost mournfully after she cast the class a yearning look that made most of the guys shiver slightly in fright.

She looked like a beast stalking her prey.

"Ne, ne Takashi, do you think they liked us?" Honey asked his cousin excitedly.

"Yeah." The taller male grunted as he gently lifted his self appointed charge off his shoulders because of the look the teacher sent their way.

"Good, cause they sure are funny!" he giggled, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy from the blonde one's Stare of Want.

"Yeah." Came the grunted reply but honey saw he same unease in his eyes.

"Come on, Takashi! It's almost history class!" burst through the Lolita's mouth as he jumped from his seat, stored his science things away in his little bag and jumped on Mori's shoulders in a way that only a kendo champion and experience could accomplish.

"Yeah."

**2A classroom, five minutes earlier**

Kyoya was in the middle of an extensive search on the new foreign students, both irritated and invigorated by the challenge that their nationality caused. Their original jurisdiction being across the Atlantic where ties to Japan were a little weaker than he hoped for and their ties with the Ootori Corporation was worse than he expected, he managed to find little things about him that got him interested, not satisfied.

"M-mommy!" something shrieked before it crashed roughly into him and openly sobbed on his shoulder, wetting his uniform. "Th-those hoodlums are going to corrupt my darling daughter! Oh my, I can't believe such fair princesses could act in such a way! Cussing and openly brawling in public! Ah, the humanity!" before he could question on how he wasn't on the floor he roughly pushed the Host club king off on him before righting himself and shifted his glasses.

"Never do that o me again, Tamaki, or you'll face the consequences." The blonde started to slink away and into his corner. Mumbling things on the lines of 'hoodlums', 'his precious Haruhi', and 'mommy leaving daddy'. Though it didn't really matter and the girls that crowded around him reluctantly departed for lunch.

"I don't have the time for this Tamaki; I have important matters to attend to." His laptop snapped shut and he walked briskly from the room, Tamaki shuffling behind with a squawk.

**1A classroom, some time ago**

"You were gone for a long time Haruhi." The twins synchronized with one another as they returned to their math classroom after lunch. Hikaru with his arm draped over her shoulder and Kaoru with his around her waist as they spoke softly in her ear. This didn't seem to bother her as she continued to pack away her things.

"We thought you were getting-" Hikaru started and dropped off as his twin picked up the sentence.

"-dirty with the new kids." Kaoru finished with a perverted smile the same as his carbon copy. The top of Haruhi's cheeks turned red and she pushed them off roughly, causing the Kaoru to fall to the ground and Hikaru into a chair.

"Kaoru!" Hika yelled and ran towards his groaning brother, his head held lightly in his arms.

"I-I'm sorry…Hika-chan, I got hurt…" he moaned and looked into his eyes.

"Baka…I'm the one that's sorry, I wasn't there to protect you." He gazed lovingly into Kaoru's eyes.

"Hikaru!"

"Kaoru!"

"Kyaaaa! Beautiful Forbidden Brotherly Love!" a group of girls flocked the pair, not that Haruhi noticed or cared.

_'It's okay, when it's in a three way!_

_Maybe two is enough, that's what- _stop it mind!' she mentally scolded herself. That damn song will be stuck in her head forever!

* * *

**song: Three Way by the Lonely Island**


	3. Chapter 3: Damn Foreign Bastards

_"Wow, it actually looks good!"_ it was three o'clock in the morning Mara was slouching into the couch, it's a medium gray color, fluffy, and soft which is all that matters in her opinion, and was sweating and mumbling swears under her breath with her eyes closed and hair falling out of her sloppy bun. Clare on the other hand, was standing straight backed on top of the wooden coffee table, her platinum hair held exactly in place by a rubber band in the style of a high pony tail. She actually seemed excited by the multicolored equipment. The living room was decked out with a mahogany TV stand that had doors that opened and shut to hide the electronic that was already sitting quietly behind those doors, plugged in and gathering dust, the furniture was the before mentioned medium gray couch, a black Lazyboy recliner, the mentioned mahogany coffee table, and yellow and orange in tables flanking the ends of the couch and a dark wooden one of the left side of the recliner, since Mara flat out refused the red one. Lamps were sitting upon the tables with blue and green shades that had butterflies and fish designed and a purple rug was placed just in front of the door, so visitors or themselves could wipe their feet when they come in. Pictures dominated the wall, giving it color, personality, and a distant feel of home. Vibrant flowers, beautiful landscapes, and pictures of family members were what inhabited the frames. Clare's smiling family, Mara's mom and dad with her as a baby, Mara's mom and dad alone and as teenagers, Yolanda, Yolanda and most of the family including cousins, aunts, uncles, and her grandma in many different varieties.

The kitchen looked as if a rainbow had thrown up over it. With it's red cooking utensils, the blue pots and pans, plates, bowls, and cups in a variety of colors. Clay planting pots lining the window, with soil and basil, rosemary, and other flavorful plant seeds that would be used in cooking. More colorful pictures were dotting about here and there, but that was it. This would more than likely make Mara want to puke at the sight of her kitchen. Yes, her kitchen. She does the cooking, and she does a damn good job at it, nothing can compare to the southern cooking that makes your mouth water by just thinking of it.

New things would more than likely be bought tomorrow.

But for now, Clare smiled at the colorful array and her zombie like friend before she hopped off the table with catlike grace and ventured to the refrigerator, pulled out their McDonalds's food and McFlurries from the freezer, warmed the burgers, fries, and onion rings and ventured into the room to find her friend curled into a ball on the couch, looking positively exhausted and troubled, even as she slept. It had to be hard on her, living on the complete other side of the world, far away from her family. She had a family complex. Ever since her mother and father were murdered in cold blood right before her very eyes, she hates to be away from them; she always bit her lip slightly as she watched the clock in class and sat on the edge of her seat, waiting for the bell to ring and she could go home, so as her best friend, Clare does everything in her power to distract her and stop her worrying. A sharp jab always occurred in the blonde's chest at the fact that she'll never be able to make her anxiety leave her permanently, but she quickly pushed the thoughts away and plastered on her infamous grin when her friend started to stir and sit up.

"_Smell food."_ She mumbled groggily and eyed the bag with extreme want. Even if she didn't prefer McDonald's food, she wasn't going to just turn away a perfectly good hamburger.

_"Good, I couldn't possibly eat this by myself!"_ she happily exclaimed as she jumped onto the comfy and soft couch and handed the food out. Mara had two hamburgers, a large fry, and a large McFlurry while Clare was content with one burger, a small onion ring, and a small McFlurry of her own.

_"I don't wanna go ta school 'morrow…"_ Mara sighed before she reached into her pocket and produced her phone. Her eyes widened at the time before her fingers rushed to dial a number.

_"Finally! You know how long I was waitin'?"_ she heard Yolanda's loud voice ring out of the speaker.

_"Sorry Mama, I had a lot ta do today."_ She sighed and visibly relaxed into the couch. _"You all 'kay?"_

_"Jus' fine, sweet heart, don' go worrin' 'bout us. The chil'ren is pretty upset they ain't see you off. Yes- no! 'Cause I am! In a minute, calm down child!"_ this made Mara smile a small sad smile, hearing the soft voices of her little cousins. "_This girl's gonna have a stroke, so here ya go, honey! Be careful, make friends, an' 'member I love ya!"_ her aunt rushed out before there was rustling and the phone was handed off to one of her many cousins.

_"Mara!"_ she winced slightly but her small smile stayed put on her face.

_"Hey True."_ her 6 year old cousin squealed loudly, making Mara wince again.

_"How Japan? Oooh, I bet it's fun! Make sure ya bring me lots for Christmas, 'kay? How was you're day? Mine was crappy! This kid in my class…"_ it went on and on, she only gave her enough time to grunt out an _"umhm"_ _"huh" "mmhm"_ and a _"naw!"_ from time to time. It continued with her other cousins as well; it was around five when she was able to hang up. Clare just watched her and smiled, her own conversation with her parents ended an hour and a half ago.

_"What?"_ she was questioned as the brunette stretched and groaned.

_"Nothing, nothing at all." _Her smile grew as she balled up her wrappers and stuck it into her plastic cup and she saw her friend's eyes widen slightly and she began to almost inhale her food and her melted McFlurry.

_"Night!"_ Clare exclaimed received a nod to her general direction and skipped to her room.

The bed had a bubblegum pink comforter to match her sheets, light purple head and foot boards and posters of both American and Japanese stars popped up along the walls. A picture of her and her parents and her and Tamara who was smiling a rare smile and holding a video game that she'd never have been able to afford on her own was resting on her vanity among her makeup and beauty tools. A lamp with a white shade and a red transparent scarf lying over it was on her bedside table, along with a picture of her puppy, Champ, another picture of her parents, this time on their wedding day, and her and Tamara when they were in fifth grade and freshly friends. She was draped over the other girl's body and smiling bright while Mara looked very uncomfortable and had a glare on her face, it was in it's first stage and looked cute instead of blood curling. On her dresser, stuffed animals were sitting on either side of her TV, a few she bought and a few she brought. The others will be sent later, along with Champ. Oh, she couldn't wait until Champ got here!

He's a pitbull puppy with a heart of gold. No matter what it is, he'll just run up, tackle, and lick anything that breathes until he's tired or is pried away. He especially likes Mara, and she's a cat person, so it doesn't really turn out that well.

As Clare looked at him, her chest ached in away that she only experienced when she went to Seattle on a school field trip; she's homesick. Tears prickled her eyes while she looked at her ceiling, trying to contain them as much as possible, she absolutely hates crying, no matter what the reason is, all it does is ruin your makeup.

_"Clare…" _her head snapped to her door way and she quickly wiped away her tears at the blurry figure. When they were gone, she clearly saw Mara standing there, the hallway light darkening her features, giving her a mysterious look and making her seem even more beautiful. "_Let's sleep in my room tonight, eh?" _she asked and reached out a hand, which was taken gladly. Call it what you will, but Mara had a 6th sense in knowing when something's wrong with someone, and her heart and conscience makes her help out that someone to the best of her abilities. This sucks ass for her because she really doesn't like having people too close to her.

_"I miss home…we're just so f-far away-y_…" Clare confessed while they walked the few feet to her friend's room.

_"Tell me 'bout it."_ Mara sighed and steered the way into her room and making her friend sit on the bed then clicking on a lamp and leaving to turn off the hallway and livingroom lights.

_"I-I've only been away-y from h-home for a couple days and a few nights, b-but now-w-w…"_ she burst into tears and Tamara rushed back in and quickly pulled her into her arms.

_"I know, Clare, trus' me, I know."_ Coaxing her to move up towards the top part of her mattress, she leaned back against the head board and gently laid Clare's head on her lap_. "Mama's worried 'bout me,_" after stiff silence, filled only with Clare's soft sobs and sniffles came the soothing, calm voice._ "She didn't say it, but she always is. I know she doesn't think that I can handle myself, and I prolly couldn't, if it wasn't for you. I'm glad we're friends, an' I think a you as family, ya know…that's why I ain't a mess right now."_ Her fingers combed through blonde hair, making the sobs quiet down and only sniffles to remain.

_"I-I'm scared…"_

_"Don't be. I'm here, ain't I? And I ain't gonna let nothin' happen to you, I promise." _It was quiet.

_"Can you sing for me?"_ Mara's hand paused in rubbing through blonde hair, making Clare grab onto her pants like a life line. _"Please, just until I go to sleep?"_ she whimpered and her only friend's body untensed.

_"What d'ya wanna hear?"_ this made Clare think for a minute.

"_It doesn't matter- something your mom used to sing to you?"_ it was quiet for a minute.

"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay  
Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay  
Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby  
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay  
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow

Mara's voice was raspy and deep- beautiful in it's uniqueness.  
_"Bless you with love for the road that you go_

_May you sail far to the far fields of fortune  
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet  
And may you need never to banish misfortune  
May you find kindness in all that you meet  
May there always be angels to watch over you  
To guide you each step of the way  
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm  
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-la_

Clare's sniffling and the grip on her sweatpants slackened._  
"May you bring love and may you bring happiness  
Be loved in return to the end of your days  
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you  
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay  
May there always be angels to watch over you  
To guide you each step of the way  
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm  
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay_

Mara seemed to visialize her mother, short curly hair and a giant grin that showing her perfect white teeth._  
"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay  
Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay  
Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay  
Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay  
Loo-li, lai-lay"_

A tear fell into her sleeping friend's hair.

**~Mara's P.O.V.~**

The sun shone brightly through my window and I could faintly hear the birds chirping. I really wish I put up curtains and all birds would just drop dead.

'_No, a few more minutes…' _of course I couldn't go back to sleep, after living in a house where I wasn't allowed to go back to sleep… I felt something move in my lap and just when I was about to punch it, I remembered.

Clare trying to hold in her tears, crying to me, missing home… my heart felt like it was breaking all over again. I hate it when my family's, and Clare's my family in every way but blood, hurt, much more than I hate singing.

I carefully moved her head to lay on one of my pillows and stood, working out the kinks in my body that came form sleeping straight backed.

The things I do for people I love… I saw my phone lying next to where I was sleeping and grabbed it.

It was already 5:00… well; I didn't wanna go to school anyway.

_"Mara?"_ I looked over my shoulder and smirked at the blonde rubbing her eye tiredly and looking at me. _"Where'ya goin'?"_

_"We need food, don't we? Immah go get panacake-"_ damn it, I can never say that shit right! _"- mix and I'll make ya chocolate chip panacakes, 'kay?"_ she perked right up and had her stupid grin on her face, again.

_"Yay! I can't wai- what are you doing?"_ she's so stupid sometimes; I swear…she just stared at me after I dropped my pants and went looking for another pair.

_"I ain't gonna make a good impression if I jus' go on up ta some one an' ask for a application in sweats an' a baggy shirt."_ I found my nicest pair of jeans and slipped them on, her watching me with a questioning look on her face.

_"What?"_ I finally asked, annoyed while I pulled off my shirt.

_"Are you going to get me one?"_ she asked and made to get up.

_"No, I don't want you working."_ She froze on the edge of my bed.

_"W-why not?"_ I sighed softly and glanced at her from the corner of my eye then continued on my quest for a presentable shirt

_"One a us has ta have a life right? I'll getta job, come home and cook, put you're food in the oven or somethin', and go to work, while you make other friends."_ I pulled a white tank top on over my head. _"You needa know more people then me, ya know."_ Then I shrugged on a white long sleeved shirt.

"_What if I don't want to know more people?"_ I can tell by her voice that she crossed her arms.

_"Look, jus' do what I tell ya, you'll have fun. I don't like people and I like being productive, it's a win-win situation."_ I brushed my hair and put it in a bun at the nape of my neck then turned around and saw that she did have her arms crossed. She opened her mouth but I put my left hand up to stop her because my other one was busy putting my phone in my pocket. _"I gotta go, we'll talk 'bout this later."_ She just gave me a look and I headed for my door, putting on lipbalm as i went.

_"Mara-"_

_"I'll be sure to get the key copied!"_ I yelled and picked up the only key and my Ipod from the table.

_"Mara, wait!"_ I already shut and locked the door. With my headphones in my ears, I stored my Ipod and the key in my left back pocket, since my phone and chapstick was in my right. Then I started walking to the closest supermarket, which just so happened to be a few miles away, pretty close to the school.

Oh joy.

* * *

**~Third person P.O.V.~**

Haruhi didn't really mind being asked for help, she didn't mind giving help, she did mind, however, getting the beegeezus scared out of her when she didn't hear that person coming and almost dropping her groceries, which she still would've had to buy if she broke or bruised anything.

"Uhh, could you help me; I don't know what any of this says." Haru must've jumped a foot into the air.

"Yeah, sorr- Mara-san?" The scowling girl's eye brow ticked and she looked away. Haru was sure she heard her fellow brunette mutter _"Jus' my luck." _under her breath.

"Mara-san, where's Clare-san?" Haru asked innocently enough, but she just didn't want to be stalked by the fangirl.

"She's at home, poutin' or somethin' like that." Mara replied after several minutes of silence and waved her hand casually. "I was wonderin' if you knew where I could find some stuff." She sighed and rubbed behind her ear. "I didn't want Clare ta come out, 'cause she'd want ta do some stuff I don't want her ta do…" she eyed the brunette with a look that showed she was confused at her own words. "Look, I can't really explain it, but can ya help me out real fast? I promised Clare I'd make her panacakes, but I don't know where the shit is and then I have to make dinner an', fuck my life- never mind." she turned around and went to storm off but a voice stopped her midstep.

_"The meat is on the right side of the store and the vegetables on the left, baking things will be in the middle isles." _The girl turned and looked at Haru with an incredulous look. _"Most of us learned how to speak English in middle school, Mara-san." _The scowl was quickly put back in place.

_"All this time, I was lookin' like a moron! An' all a you can- ooh! I wanna hurt some one, damn foreigners! " _She stormed away, ranting and raving, yelling at who ever looked at her. Haruhi didn't notice the devious smirk crawl onto her face. She realized why the twins love tormenting people so much; their reactions are gut busting. After she realized that yes, she did just think that, she shook her head.

'I'm spending way too much time with them.' was her final thought on the subject and she went back to shopping.

* * *

The rest of the evening went by without a hitch, there was a locksmith shop near the grocery store, and he also copied keys, and a little coffee shop about a block from her apartment had quickly hired her because "a cute little foreigner like you would really attract some customers!" apparently. She was handed a bag that held her uniform and was pushed out. Her confused face contorted as she sneered, and if she didn't need this job, she would have marched right back in there and bitch slapped that hoe.

Damn, she hated being poor.

Leaving the door opened after she unlocked it, she lugged the numerous and heavy bags straight towards the kitchen, not paying Clare any mind while she was trying to hook up the DVD player. She did, however, almost faint at the sight of her kitchen, she dropped the food, her mouth opened and her eyes widened comically, making Clare laugh, or cackle, depends on who you ask, and skip over to her friend.

"I won't go looking for a job behind you're back if you let me keep the kitchen like this." She practically purred at her friend. Oh yes, she had her stuck between a rock and a hard place. A good five minutes passed and Clare was in the middle of pawing through the food when there was sound, besides Clare's grunts of distaste at the vegetables.

"Fine, but you're not gonna get panacakes." They had a stare down for a minute before Clare blinked and looked away, thinking hard.

"Fine." They nodded at each other before proceeding to put the groceries up, leaving out what was going to be used to make dinner. Even if they won in their respective ways, they both felt a tinge of loss and mourned silently for the pancakes and a normal kitchen.

**~Tamara's P.O.V.~**

That rat bastard. I can't even begin to describe how much I hate her right now. She knows I practically live in the kitchen! I let her do what ever the hell she wanted with the livingroom, but can she just let me have this one space? No, of course not! I knew I should've never let her go shopping alone. If it were up to me, we'd have white, black, and gray, that's it!

_"So what's for dinner, chef?"_ my foot down your throat, that's what's for dinner.

_"Pizza."_ I glared at her, then turned and preheated the stove.

_"Yay, I love pizza!"_ Good, I hope you like veggie pizza. My smirk was so big, it hurt my face.

_"You need help?"_

_"No, go electrocute yourself, and plug in the DVD player while you're at it, I wanna watch a movie."_ I heard her giggle, sometimes I really hate that about her, but now, it's comforting; seeing as she's the only thing semi-normal in this stupid country and she was sobbing on me a few hours ago. I really wish I could hold a grudge against her.

_"We need to go to the cable company! I can't do this!"_ I heard her yell while I put the meat back and took out a few vegetables; green, red, and yellow peppers, celery, and a can of roasted tomatoes were some of them.

_"Well learn! Ya broke us after ya went bat shit crazy with this whole decoratin' thing!"_ I heard her snort.

_"Well excuse me! What about the couch and chair, huh?"_

_"I got 'em at a yard sale."_ Something crashed, and it sounded heavy.

_"OH, MOTHERFUCKER! I HATE TECHNOLOGY! AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN; YOU GOT IT AT A YARD SALE?"_ I sighed and walked (swaggered) into the livingroom.

_"It was around 133 dol- err…100 euro, I guess. I suck at this new language thing. This guy apparently broke up with his girl an' lives with his moms now… I didn't really care, but I got a pretty good discount for pretendin'. "_ I shrugged and looked at the wires. _"I swear, this shit ain't rocket science. The red goes with red- why the hell did you put it with orange?" _she shrugged.

"_ROY G. BIV , remember?"_

_"You're a class A retard. I needa get you checked out, that squirrel that bit you a while ago must've had somethin'"_

_"Don't worry about it, I got my shots after it!" _I could tell she shuddered.

_"Good, the lease said I wasn't allowed to have rabid pets- I feed you, I pay for you, and my money's 'bout to buy you're clothes, you is either my pet or my kid, and my kid wouldn't have rabies." _I stood, turned, and looked at her with my eyebrow raised and arms crossed; she looked like she was gonna bite my head off. _"Down, girl. Remember, bitin' is bad!" _she tackled me, and just to keep the metaphor going, I'm just gonna say she pounced.

_"Damn it! Get the fuck off me, skank!"_

_"Quit calling me a dog, bitch!"_

_"I don't think you can call me a bitch, it's a girl dog!" _I pushed her off of me and pinned her to the floor. _"You can either put in a movie and watch it like a good girl, or I can whoop you're ass six ways to Sunday." _She huffed and cussed at me, I don't really care. Like I said before, I taught her those words and I'm kinda proud she can finally say a sentence with mostly swears.

_"Son of a damn bitch, get fucked, stupid hoe! I can do what the fuck ever I want, piece of shit!" _she stopped struggling and threatening to kill me after while and I smirked at the pathetic scowl on her face; she hates it when I win, and I never lose.

_"Get the hell off me."_ I did as asked, but the smart ass in me had to make it agonizingly slow. _"Damn it, Mara!"_ she bucked me off, making my smirk widen as I softly hit the floor. She's just too easy to fuck with. _"Hurry up with the pizza, I'm starving over here!"_ I rolled my eyes at her, lying spread-eagled on the floor and groaning.

_"When ain't ya? I'm shocked you ain't ate Champ yet."_ She shot up and gasped almost too dramatically to be real.

_"I would never eat my baby! I should stuff a bar of soap in your mouth for even saying that!"_

_"Like ta see ya try, cunt breath."_ I mumbled and made work of standing up. I like to mumble, kiss my ass if you got a problem with it.

"_My breath would never smell like cunt!"_ she said, again, almost too dramatically to be real.

"_Fine,"_ I stretched, popping my back as I did so. _"dick breath."_ With that I walked into the kitchen.

_"Just make my damn food! That's all you're good for!"_

_"Last time I checked, having slaves is against the law!"_

_"__Brazil__ still has slaves!"_ smart ass.

_"We ain't in __brazil__, now is we?"_

_"Ain't isn't a word!"_

_"Yeah it is! They added it ta the dictionary last year!"_ she was quiet and I snickered and proceeded to make the pizza dough, like I said, I never lose.

_"What movie do you want to watch?_

_"I don't care!"_ I heard her mumble something, but I don't care enough to find out what.

_"Harry Potter?"_

_"Don't care!"_ I could hear her shifting through the stack. There aren't many, since she can only watch most movies once and I don't really watch TV, so they're just sitting on the coffee table until I can find a better place for them. That's not important, the food is. Clare's almost a strict carnivore and gets most of her vegetables from her parents putting it in her meat and giving it to her. Eating this will kill her, and she'll eat it because if she doesn't do it willingly, I'll take it upon myself to stuff it down her throat and plug her nose while my hand's over her mouth. It'll get in her if I have anything to say about it.

* * *

The next day came the same way it did yesterday; the sun in my eyes and me wishing the birds would drop dead. Only this time, my alarm woke me up at 6:30, I hate those damn things. If I could break all of them I would, but then I'd never get a damn thing done.

"_Turn it off."_ Clare mumbled into my stomach while she tried to burrow her way in. I detached my hand from her nest of hair after a little struggle and rubbed my eyes tiredly. She came in here last night, almost crying again, and I sung her to sleep. I hate singing.

_"Can't, gotta go ta school."_ She groaned and latched onto my waist.

_"I don't wanna get up."_

_"Ya gotta, have ta get ready."_ She shook her head and my attempts to wiggle out of her iron grip were useless.

_"Think 'bout all the boys."_ She instantly let go of me and rushed/ stumbled to her room. She needs to straighten out her priorities.

With the alarm silenced, I stood, stretched and got dressed. A pair of my baggy black jeans, an assassin's creed sweatshirt over a black tank top, and my ratty converse was enough for me.

_"Call a cab!"_ I yelled nowhere in particular and got an _"Okay!"_ in response.

Sometimes I hate that she's a morning person. I want to hit her almost 10 times as much as I usually do.

**~Third Person P.O.V.~**

As Mara stored her phone and plain key into her sweatshirt pockets, she unconsciously applied lip balm to her full, pink lips as she thumbed through her song list on her ipod, one of the headphones already in her ear.

_"They'll be here soon!"_ Clare yelled in her chipper voice, which seemed reserved for mornings.

_"M'kay…"_ Mara mumbled mostly to herself while she unceremoniously tucked the chapstick and her ipod into her after she picked her song.

_"Two trailer park girls go round the out side, round the out side, round the out side!"_

Swaggering around the bed, she stooped slightly and grabbed the handle of her gray bookbag. It went with everything else in her room, which was a mix of black, gray, a bit of white here and there, and brown from the wooden bookshelves lining the wall closest to her window and the posters that covered every square inch of wall space. Naruto, Harry Potter, several pertaining to zombies, a few Big Bang Theory, Three Days Grace, Paramore, Avril Lavigne, Eminem, Braking Benjamin, and A few Lord of the Rings pictures stared back at her, the smell of tape still lingered in the air because she just put them up last night.

_"Come on, Mara! I have Cute Boy Syndrome and my medicine's at the school~!"_

_'She's a pervert.'_ Mara thought with a sweatdrop and she proceeded to yell _"Hol' on a sec! Damn, you needa calm yourself! The taxi ain't even here yet!"_

_"If I don't remind you now, you'll go back to sleep~!"_

_"I hate ya so much…ya know that?"_

_"Awe, Mara! Stop, you're making me blush~!"_ Clare giggled so loud, Mara could hear it.

_"I don't need you're smart ass comments this early in the damn morning!"_

_"You're life would be boring with out me~!"_ The blonde sang as she skipped down the hall and stood in Mara's doorway, a grin stretched across her features. She was wearing neon green jean shorts that looked like underwear, a florescent yellow crop top with CAUTION in big, black letters, so her stomach was showing, and high heeled black sandals. Large, bright green hoops dangled from her ears and she had mascara, eyeliner, blue eye shadow, a light dusting of blush on her cheeks, and some light pink lip stick on her face, her hair was gathered in a messy bun just shy on sitting right on top of her head, all-in-all, she looked tacky, but Mara smirked fondly at her anyway. no matter what she wore, she'll always be there to stick up for her and give some one a fat lip if they got a problem with it.

_"Ya ready ta go?"_ Mara questioned, pulling her own hair back and into a low pony tail, not bothering to brush it.

_"All set! Can't wait!"_ she shrieked and did a little dance. _"Did you see those ginger twins I our English class?"_ her eyes flashed to a poster of Fred and George advertising their inventory to a few little kids but Mara's were scanning her ipod that she just freed from her pocket. The damn kill joy.

_"Or the blonde one with a French accent and his friend that was typing on the computer? He was hanging all over him, remember?"_ Mara's hand froze from selecting a new song and that made Clare almost cackle. She knew her best friend was a secret yaoi maniac, and she loved the French culture. _"And the cute little boy and his tall friend?"_ Mara just stuffed the device back into her pocket after simply hitting the shuffle button and roughly pushed past her grinning friend, who knew she also had a fetish for cute and small things, such things were hidden in a drawer, with only a pink unicorn that her cousins had started to call Marvin; she used him as her main pillow and he was resting on her bed.

_"What're ya gettin' at?" _the ornery teen questioned snidely and slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the door. Just as she was about to get a reply, a car horn honked and made it's presence known. Mara rushed down the stairs and into the front seat; it's only right that she kept her ultimate air of awesomeness. The bitch. She wasn't done teasing her mercilessly; and making a point of why you shouldn't force feed her anything with vegetables.

* * *

It's not like Tamara's a bad person, she's a little rough on the edges, but a good person; ask anybody! So why is it that she's stuck with an annoying blonde behind her whispering things in her ear that is making her uncomfortable and angry?

_'She's just trying to make me blush. She's just trying to make me blush. She's just trying-'_ her mantra was broken by a loud 'thump!' and Clare recoiling into her seat. Mara developed a short temper a few months after she turned six.

_"Say one more thing, I dare ya…"_ she growled and Clare whimpered.

_"You take things too seriously."_

_"I'm gonna take my fist ta your face if-"_

"U-uh, ladies?" the cabbie asked nervously and shook slightly when the brunette turned and glared at him with so much hate and dislike that it must've taken years to perfect.

"What." She didn't question, rather she demanded he speak.

"Wh-where're you going?" he asked, wanting to recoil into himself like the blonde one did.

"123 Ouran Ave, Bunkyo! And make it fast, my conditions acting up!" Clare squealed straight into his ear, causing the poor driver to swerve and almost hit a tree.

_"Damn it, Clare! We ain't got no money to pay for damages! Sit the fuck back and let the man drive!"_ she did as told and mumbled a "sorry…" to the flustered driver.

"No, no, it's fine." He mumbled and gave her a small smile while looking at the other girl from the corner of his eye.

'Is she keeping her captive? No, they seem comfortable around each other… why in the world would they be friends?'

"We here." The brunette declared and the taxi screeched to a stop outside a large, and pink, school.

"You go to OuranHigh School?"

"Don't act so surprised." The brash one mumbled and began to climb out.

"We're geniuses! We're the smartest kids in America, then we were offered a scholarship here, and we took it!" the other giggled and climbed out herself.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know." He said and scratched his head uncomfortable with his current situation. 'So they were probably forced to interact with each other, and the blonde one's personality is hard to fight off. That must be why they're so comfortable around each other!' he decided and mentally patted himself on the back.

"See ya girls!" he called and rushed out of there while taking note of all the limos that cost more than he'd make in ten years, his money was wrinkled but the wad he was given made up for that tenfold. The blonde's attention was focused on the students, rather she was drooling over the guys, and the other didn't know how to count the money; he offered to help but she said she _didn't give a fuck and it was too early for this shit._ Whatever, at least he can say he tried.

* * *

Kyoya always expects the unexpected, so it didn't really surprise him to see the new girl, Mara was it?, sitting in the seat by the window looking out of it with half lidded eyes, looking positively bored. Her hand cupped her chin, displaying her black nails, her lips glimmered in the sun's rays while part of her face was cast in shadow, that and the music pumping from her earbuds making her seem mysterious and eerie but the sad look on her face, so different from her usual sneer make her seem human, not like a monster. He'll admit it to himself, she looks beautiful, like something he's never seen. She stands out, even if her appearance makes it clear that she's trying to blend into the background.

"Mommy!" Tamaki's loud voice broke the silence and Mara's head shot up, her hood falling down and and her earbuds falling from her ears while she made eye contact with the dapper blonde and sneered at the two.

_"On the ground I lay, motionless, in pain-"_the music played for a few seconds before she quickly paused it.

_"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" _she hissed at them, making Tamaki take a step back.

"Princess, you're vulgar words hurt me!" he placed his hand over his heart. Kyoya distinctly saw her eye brow twitch and she turned away, mumbling to her self about foreign bastards.

"Excuse me Nicholson-san, but you're in my seat." Kyoya flashed his fake, host smile. She was quiet for a while, and his patience was running thin, waking up at the ungodly hour of 6:00 and then having a blonde idiot known as Tamaki attach himself to you like a barnacle will do that to a person.

"Nicholson-san, I-" she cut him off.

_"I didn't see anyone's name on the chair, or the desk. So fuck off." _she said forcefully. This set the dark haired boy back a little, no matter who he talked to, they usually gave him whatever he wanted.

"Of course my name wouldn't be on it, that would be defacing school-"

_"Could you all speak in damn English? For fucks sake!"_ he didn't enjoy being cut off.

_"Very well," _his voice was cold as he ventured away from the door way and over to her, leaving Tamaki gaping after him. _"That would be defacing school property, and I'm afraid I would have to report you if you did such." _He was standing over her now, glaring down at her hair, and then her eyes and cocky smirk as she looked up.

_"Well then, take me away officer." _She propped her arms up on her elbows and put her wrists together, thus showing the crude carving of _'Tamara's desk'_ and when she stood up, roughly meeting his nose, he saw _'Tamara's chair'_.

_"I'm afraid your scholarship won't last long if you keep misbehaving like this, Nicholson-san." _He pushed up his glasses, causing a glare to form so she couldn't see him searching her face for a reaction. Her cocky smirk only turned to one of understanding.

_"So, there's a buncha snitches round here, huh?" _she dropped her hands that were ready to be handcuffed, sat back down, and propped her feet up on her desk. "_If you gonna snitch, then go 'head an' snitch. Either way, I want ya 'way from me, your face makes me want ta punch it. And we all know that I don't wanna break those sexy glasses, right four-eyes?" _she snickered at his twitching eyebrow, messing with people is so fun.

_"Is that a threat?"_

_"It's a promise, Four Eyes." _her head fell back, the end of her curly, untamed mane of hair trapped in a ponytail reached a little passed the seat of her chair. _"You can go now. I'm done talkin' ta ya."_ Her eyes were closed and her music dulled, the source being back in her ears.

'That little…!' Kyoya fumed on the inside, the only visual of his irritation is his squared jaw. This…girl…there's something about her. Something that makes part of him want to murder her and the other to drag her into the janitor's closet, not to be seen for the rest of the day. It's hard being an Ootori sometimes, because he really wants to rip his hair out in frustration. This probably started when his searches on her and her friend came up short because they were born half way around the world. All he got was that she lived with her aunt Yolanda Fredricks along with a few other children, True Fredricks, Promise Fredricks, Thomas Fredricks, Ryan Fredricks, and Kasha Fredricks, and her friend is an only child that lives with her parents Akane Grayson, once Katayama, and Jackson "Jack" Grayson. Now, he's been through half of his resources and is no farther than when it was announced that they would be getting a couple new students from America.

And then this one decides to cop an attitude with him, an Ootori? And she doesn't care about him and his family? Why must she peak his interests more?

_"Take a picture, it'll last longer." _She sneered at him when she still felt his eyes on her, not knowing how close he was to doing just that.

After she heard him walk away, to the other side of the room might I add, and begin to type on his laptop she mentally relaxed, she hate's being stared at; and all these damn foreigners seem to ever do is stare!

Damn foreigners.

Well, at least she wasn't going to be snitched on today. With her luck she'd have to wear that awful "dress" as punishment. If it came to that, she'd leave with vigor, threatening to bomb the place more than likely, and Clare telling everyone she didn't mean it and she'd be back tomorrow…and she probably would be back the next day, because lord knows she just can't say no the damn leech!

A few minutes later, the other students began to arrive, not that Mara noticed, she was peacefully asleep, her position shifted so she was hunched over the desk, using her arms and book bag as a pillow and facing the door. Kyoya was gripping his pen tightly, how can the little monster look that…that… innocent? Yeah, let's go with innocent. He was about to stroke out, the audacity! And what was this feeling inside him, burning in his chest? Anger? Yeah, let's go with that. Just leading everyone on, a wolf in sheep's clothing if you will. This wolf was putting on such a good show, he was tempted to pull out his phone and take just take a picture, not because it'll last longer, but for blackmail, of course…no other reason. Before he could come up with a plan to snap a picture of her, it would be bad for their guests to see him creeping on the 'cute' transfer, the teacher walked into the room, and he slammed the door behind him, the object of his interests shot up and sat straight backed in her chair, looking at him with slightly widened eyes. Damn that teacher to hell.

"We will be watching the American movie the Wizard of Oz with Japanese subtitles." He didn't leave room for argument as he began to hook up his computer to the projector. It soon clicked in Mara's head that they were watching a movie that she's seen about a hundred times, in English with Japanese subtitles…and that was it…

She either died and went to heaven, this was a cruel dream and a damn alarm clock will wake her up in a few minutes, and the least likely, this was her lucky day.

Her luck sucks.

* * *

**song: Sleepsong by Secret Garden**


	4. Chapter 4: Damn Bastard Teachers

Tamara's never outright hated a teacher. Sure, they annoy the shit out of her, but it's their job, she can respect that. But none, and I mean none, made her want to pop a bitch, namely this rat bastard.

"Class, Class!" the students settled down gradually at the teacher's commanding voice and all eyes were on him, Mara's seemingly uninterested ones standing out among the scrutinizing, dazed (from those who decided to sleep though the hour), and semi-excited ones. She was really enjoying the film, on the inside of course. "We have, as you all probably know, 10 minutes left, and I have a little project for you all."

Oh damn, projects are never good.

"I've decided that you all are in need of an invigorating little exercise." he eyed a boy trying to subtly wipe sleep from his eye and was failing miserably to hide the distain in his voice. "It seems as if you all don't take my lessons seriously."

'_You have lessons?_' Mara thought rudely, this class was all play and no work; it seemed so anyway, as the students shamelessly did their own thing while the movie was playing.

"You, what was the dog's name?" he pointed his finger straight in the boy's face, effectively scaring the shit out of him.

"U-uh… what?" he questioned lamely, going cross eyed to stare at the tip of Aida-san's well manicured finger.

"Exactly, you, what did the girl have to follow?" he pointed to the middle-back of the room at a girl whose eyes darted to her friend that she was gossiping to. she was slowly inching away, pretending not to know her.

"I don't remember sir." She looked down to her desk and the teacher made a knowing sound of "mmhm!".

"I expected as much, maybe your friend might know the answer?" he eyed them both for a second then turned and paced along the front of the room. "Now, we are going to have a culture project," shouts of outrage broke out. "Silence! I will be disrespected in my classroom no longer!" when all was quiet he stood with his hands clasped together behind his back and his eyes were daring for another outbreak. "The project will be about Japan, obviously. You will submit a paper about our history, our main imports and outports, or our advancement with modern-day technology. You will be doing this with a partner." He looked at all the bodies that perked up at his statement. "Of my choosing, of course." And he took secret joy in seeing the crestfallen faces. "I can assure you that you won't like who you're going to be paired with. Maybe this'll teach you to actually pay a little attention to what is going on."

_'I should've stayed home today.'_ Was the only thought that went through Mara's read as she moaned loudly and glared at the teacher.

"Yes, Mara-san?" the teacher asked, glaring right back at her. Their gazes were locked for a few seconds until the teacher looked away, since he was impatient and wanted a quick answer.

"Well, if-"

"_I don't see why I have ta do this shit! I know the answers to all those questions! Dorothy's dog's name's Toto and she had ta follow the Yellow Brick Road, damn it!"_ she yelled, finally comprehending what was said.

"_Could you tell me that in Japanese?" _His triumphant smirk made her want to get up and punch him, if only he wasn't a fucking teacher. He nodded in her direction and continued on his way to his computer.

"While you all were doing whatever you felt like doing I took it upon myself to match you up, so you could start planning as soon as possible." Mara paid him and his jumbled gibberish no mind; she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

'I'd bet ten dollars that he never even seen the movie, prolly spent the night fucking himself and downloaded the first damn video he saw, the rat bastard.'

"Tamaki Souh and Tamara Nicholson" Her name, pronounced perfectly by the cocky fucker, snapped her out of her thoughts. Not many would know that though because of two reasons, Tamara only moved her glare from her desk, to the teacher, then to Tamaki and the blonde idiot in question wailed loudly, ran to the dark haired fellow that she didn't find the need to get the name of, and ran to a dark corner when the male pushed him away roughly. He was growing mushrooms.

'_That damn teacher…I'll murder his ass!" _one of her snake bite was twitching slightly as an outlet of her anger. May he count his blessings.

"I expect you're projects to be on my desk by next Monday, see you all tomorrow." he smiled as he said his sentence patronizingly slow and looking pointedly at Tamara, not that she noticed since her self control was screaming at her to get out of there. she quickly crammed her stuff into her black messenger bag and tried to rush out of the room before she did something she'd regret. key word is tried

_"Get outta my way." _she hissed at the person she bumped into so hard, they both skid in opposite directions.

"_Excuse me, Nicholson-san, but I was just gathering my belong-"_

_"Shut the fuck up Four-Eyes, I'm not in the damn mood." _it was almost literally growled out before she pushed past him, making sure to make him lose his balance if only slightly.

'There's a janitor's closet at the end of the hall, and a pair of scissors on- damn it!' he thought, his dark aura growing with each mentally stated word and filling up the entire room. It made Tamaki cling onto the bastard teacher's chair like an overgrown monkey and said teacher remained unfazed.

"Come on Tamaki, or we'll be late." his glasses clinked as they were pushed higher onto his nose and he walked briskly from the room, taking his darkness and leaving the bastard teacher thinking if the new girl would've been more miserable with the Shadow King than with the Host Club King.

* * *

Clare skipped out of her class room, a few minutes late as usual, only to end up crashing into another body.

"I'm so sor- Mara?" her sentence was cut short as she saw her friend on the floor and her normal scowl unusually deep._ "What happened?"_

_"I gotta bastard for a teacher, that's what." _

_"Want to talk about it?" _she asked, offering her hand and helping her best friend off the floor.

_"Naw, I jus' want this day ta be over." _she started to play with one of her snake bites, a sure sign of her agitation. They began walking/ swaggering while Clare filled Mara in on her day, the latter nodding hither and tether.

_"So how was your class?" _she asked giddy to know the most likely terrible class, if Mara's bad luck streak decided to hold out. Said girl's eye ticked slightly at the mention of it, only piquing Clare's interest more.

_"I met two bastards, one a sadistic teacher an' the other a dick that likes ta try ta blackmail bitches, and a crybaby that likes to get into other hoes personal space. Watched a movie then got bitched out when it was over an' now we gotta do a fuckin' project. I got the crybaby." _the irritated sigh wasn't heard over the maniacal cackling.

_"That's what happens when you're an ass to everyone!" _they began to descend the steps, the cackling dying to laughing, gasping, then giggling.

_"If you don't stop right now immah push you down the steps, say you tripped, and I won't cry at you're funeral."_

_"I'll take you down with me."_

_"But you're a pussy."_

_"That has nothing to do with it."_

_"It has everythin' ta do wit' it."_ they made it down the seemingly never ending steps bickering, but no one was pushed. Well, Clare was tripped, but she only fell down about ten steps and the most damage she was caused is a sore ass.

_"Even if ya didn't die, I told ya I was gonna push ya."_

_"You didn't push, you tripped me, asshole!"_

_"Keep gettin' smart wit me and I will push ya, hoe." _it was quiet the rest of the way to their classroom.

* * *

"Quiet! Quiet! Now class this is important!" the exasperated English teacher tried to calm down her rowdy students. It worked...for about five seconds. But then a girl stood to go and sharpen her pencil, and tripped over her bag that was sitting haphazardly on the floor. Another girl and a boy laughed loudly while the others snickered and chuckled. Those two were the object of her anger once she got up from the floor.

She launched herself at the duo and too them down, since they ere sitting right next to each other, her arms hooked around their necks and you could literally feel the floor shake. But couldn't hear the boom over the cries of obscenities that would've made their parents cringe and the transfers proud.

Too bad they weren't listening.

_"You'll get laid before I listen to that shit."_

_"You don't have to listen to it."_

_"Immah listen to my own iPod, you shoulda brought yours"_

_"but mine sucks!" she whined and pouted._

_"Don't care."_

_"Please? I'll love you forever!" _Mara didn't even look up from her doodling, she knew from experience that she wouldn't be able to say no once she caught a glimpse of the infamous puppy dog eyes.

_"Then you'll jus' have ta hate __me.__" _they were sharing ear buds, listening to Mara's iPod and blocking out the rest of the world. Her device was safely stored in her jacket pocket, Clare noticed, she wouldn't expect it if...

_"I AM VICTORIOUS!" _the device was grasped in her hand and she stood, wincing slightly because of her sore bottom, using her long arms to her advantage as she held the machinery above her head.

_"Gimme my damn iPod!" _the teacher was too busy trying to pry the girl off the other two students, so she didn't notice the new battle about to break out.

_"No!"_ faster than most could follow she selected a song from the play list she specifically made for these moments.

_"Oh Mickey, you're so fine~"_

_"When did you put that on here!" _she was demanded as her friend tried in vain to reach the hand-held machine.

_"A few months ago. you aren't really that observant, are you?" _she was tackled and the device flew from her hand and hit the ground with a loud crack, no doubt another crack was made on the already messed up touch screen. Takahashi-sensei rushed to them, forgetting about the struggle, which had stopped when they heard the a loud cracking sound, that came from the iPod by the way.

"Oh for heaven's sake! Break it up! You're all behaving like wild animals-"

_"What did I tell ya 'bout touchin' my stuff?"_ Mara, who was on the bottom, grabbed a fist full of blonde hair and forced them to roll over, accidentally hitting the aging woman with her friends body and knocking her way. She just straddled the other girl before muscled arms wrapped around her waist and two hands took a tight grip on her shoulders and she was pulled away roughly; landing on her stomach. Hands held together behind her backs, she felt real handcuffs around her wrist. She struggled, slightly panicked at the contact and being contained. Her threats had fallen on deaf ears and she soon quieted once she saw people with dark sunglasses, wires in their ears signifying a Bluetooth, and a stern expression while they stared directly at her.

Only then did it click in her mind.

Security was called.

* * *

After a visit to the chairman, the five guilty persons trudged back to the classroom, hearts were heavy at the chairman's promise that a call parents (guardians) would be made.

Mama will have Mara's head.

The walk was silent and somber for most of them, but Clare was rambling on and on to nobody about nothing, as she hobbled along. she tried to talk to her best friend, but was being bluntly ignored while her partner in crime was expecting her device and listening to it all the while.

she was right, there was a big ass crack running diagonally from the upper left corner to the bottom right. the blonde better thank her lucky stars that the thing still works.

Soon, even while they walked in a death march to the room, they reached the door on classroom 1A, and the teacher was looking at them in distain.

"Yes," Takahashi-sensei sniffed with her chin held high as they walked in. "you three," she looked pointedly to the three that looked most guilty. "you have the seats in front of my desk." they nodded and scurried away, not meeting their teacher's eye. "You," she looked to Clare, who grinned her dopey grin at the pissed off woman.

"Yes sensei?" not a hair was out of place and there was no evidence of her being slammed to the ground; she did have a slight limp...but she had that when she and the savage one walked in.

"Over there, by the window." she pointed to the mentioned place. the girl's grin turned to a smirk as she turned her head to her friend that was staring at them, an indifferent look on her face but her eyes were angry, putting the picture together like any five year old could and realizing that she won't get to have her favorite spot. She glared halfheartedly at the blonde that stuck her tongue out then hobbled giddily to her seat.

"Now you." the girl's gaze went from her friends back, to Takahashi's face, then to the ceiling. "Look at me when I talk to you!" when she didn't get a response, she ripped the headphones out of the teen's ears.

_"The fuck! Don't fuckin' touch me, bitch! I ain't in the mood for this!" _she glared at the aging woman, rubbing her ears and yanking the speakers from her sensei's hand.

"I will not be talked to in such a way!" while she was being shrieked at, her snake bite was twitching violently as her tongue ran over it multiple times.

_"I don't know that you're saying damn it! Shit! The fuck is wrong with you people!"_

"Watch your mouth young lady!" the 'young lady's hands flew into the air and she looked disbelievingly at her soon to be victim.

_"Aren't you supposed to be an English teacher? SPEAK ENGLISH!"_

"I can do what ever I want, I am your sensei and this is my room!"

"_you have got to be shittin' me! Fuck this shit, I'm outta here!" _she turned and stormed out in a huff, slamming the door loudly behind her. Clare instantly stood and rushed to the door.

"Sit down!"

"I'm not going to just let her go! Sorry sensei." she bowed before running out the door and left it wide open, the sign of apology only ticked the already irate woman off more.

"Fujioka!" the girl's eyes widened a fraction, already knowing where this was going the second Takahashi's eyes landed on her. "Bring them back, I want to personally give them detention." she snapped at the cross dresser, not at all caring about the cloud of despair forming on the girl's shoulders.

_'Why is it always me?'_ she thought as she trudged towards the door, her despair cloud growing larger.

"Sensei!" perfectly harmonized, the Hitachiin twins stood up, draped across one another of course.

"Do you really think Haru-kun will be able to drag them back here?" Hikaru asked and indifferently picked at his nails.

"Yeah, Mara-chan was really angry, and if she doesn't wanna come back then Clare-chan will probably back her up on this one." Kaoru sighed in a patronizing way and shrugged his shoulders.

"We should go and help him! It'll be three on two, they'll be back in no time!" they struck a pose and flashed their host smiles.

"Fine, fine, just make it fast!" the teacher didn't look up from her note pad, making detention slips.

"Yay!" they pranced to their toy, that was damning her luck, and continued on their way out the door, dragging their plaything with them.

"Let's go American hunting!" the twin terrors said giddily, happy that they don't get to lose time with their precious Haruhi

"Let go of me!"

* * *

_"I can't believe that woman! I told her I didn't understand a word she was saying, and she decided to not give a shit!" _each word was pronounced properly and Mara rubbed her neck, or more specifically, the small tattoo on it. Her snakebite would be twitching, but her lip had started to hurt.

_"You were pretty rude back there..." _Clare offered timidly, chewing on a lock of her platinum hair, a nervous habit she's had since she was little.

_"So you're agreeing with her?" _they'd stopped walking and Tamara had spun around so fast that it was surprising she didn't get whiplash.

_"N-no! I'm just saying..." _the icy gaze didn't warm up. _"normally you wouldn't say things like that to a teacher, you've had a rough day!"_ she breathed a sigh of relief when Mara looked to the floor.

_"It's only second block and I already wanna go home..."_ she sighed and rubbed her tattoo again.

_"Don't worry, you're just not used to all of this,"_ the blonde said reassuringly and began to rub small circles on her back, pretending not to notice her friend stiffen at her touch._ "In a few days, it'll be just like old times." _slowly, the other girl began to relax and she even lent in slightly to the pressure, and they lapsed into comfortable silence.

_"I'm not going back there." _

_"I'm not going to make you, you're my friend, if you storm out dramatically, then I'll storm out dramatically." _they snickered together as they righted themselves. A few minutes later, they could be found wandering aimlessly through the deserted hallways. One inwardly appreciating the art and beauty of the place and the other talking about whatever was running through her head.

"Hey, you two!" perfectly harmonized voices snapped Mara out of her daze as she was secretly enjoying the beauty of the school and cut Clare off in the middle of her sentence. as they halted in their steps and turned, they saw three figures, two were dragging the last of their trio as it tried to break free from their grasp and not stumble at the same time. "we've been looking everywhere for you guys!" as they drew closer, Clare noticed it was Haru-kun and the cute gingers from their class so she waited, vaguely registering that Mara was already walking away after her attention was lost when Japanese was spoken.

The twins, not amused by the girl a few yards ahead of them, left Haruhi with the perverted girl and rushed after her, determined to prove they can be macho to their beloved Haruhi.

They grasped her waist and shoulders in a deathlike grip and were very pleased when she tensed at the contact. It seemed she wasn't any different than their customers!

If Clare wasn't so caught up in the wonder that is Haruhi then she might've been able to stop what was about to happen.

While the twins were silently gloating about their success and were about to drag her back to the classroom and brag to Haru, Mara's mind switched from annoyed and pissed to slightly panicked. Who the hell were these people and what the fuck gave them permission to touch her?

_"Get_ _**off**__!" _her voice was raised an octave, that was all the twins registered before they were pushed off with so much force, they hit the floor a yard away.

the girls looked at the scene with wide eyes for a few seconds until Clare rushed over to her friend and Haru to the twins, Hikaru almost crying in pain, his arm limp at his side, and Kaoru almost crying, apologizing profusely for landing on him.

"_Mara! Calm down, it's fine!"_

_"No it's not fucking fine! They grabbed me! You saw them; the hell gave them the right to do-"_

"No Hikaru! Stay awake!" Kaoru held his brother's head in his lap and tapped his cheek lightly, tears spilled down his cheeks and into the ginger hair of his twin while the boy in question tried to do as told; he never felt pain like this, hell, he never felt pain at all.

_"What did you do to him? Fix it, Tamara!"_ this time Haruhi yelled at the still irate girl who glared hatefully at the two in question, she's always hated twins.

"_Why the fuck should I do that?" _she sneered, her snake bite once again twitching.

_"Because we'll press charges! You can't just go around hurting people!" _Kaoru yelled back at her tapping Hikaru again.

_"You can't go 'round forcing' people ta do things against their will!"_

_"We weren't going to hurt you!"_

_"How the fuck was I supposed to know that? Last time I checked, I don't read damn minds!"_

_"Mara..."_ Clare intervened feeling the half conscious Hikaru's arm and now rested her hands on his shoulder._ "You popped his arm out of the socket." _she pressed down slightly and her best friend's victim squawked then Haruhi pushed her away.

Mara inwardly winced, knowing how painful that is, but her poker face stayed put.

_"It's his own fault. I told 'em on the first day that I didn't want no one touchin' me, 'member that?" _she asked rhetorically and turned around her hands shoved deep into her pockets and her head held down slightly.

_"We won't do it again!"_ the ginger wouldn't give up while his brother was in pain, not in this life time._ "I swear, if you fix him, we won't ever touch you again and we'll leave you alone!" _her step faltered but she didn't turn back.

_"And if I say no?"_

_"Please! I'm begging you, I just can't see him like this!"_ tears fell even faster and she stayed there, didn't turn and didn't walk away.

_"What if it was me, Mara? Would you turn and help me?" _it was silent for a while, except Kaoru's sobs. After what seemed like a lifetime, she turned around, face clear of all emotions.

_"I'll help 'im on a few conditions." _all three nodded their heads._ "You can't interfere, no matter how much he hurts." _she looked pointedly at the ginger, who nodded his head hesitantly_. "No one hears a word of this."_ they nodded again_. "You don't ever bring it up." _nodding_. "and you better not _ever _touch me again, understood?" _they all nodded once more._ "Good, now move outta my damn way."_ Haruhi moved instantly to one side and Clare to the other but Kaoru stayed put.

_"I'm not going anywhere."_ they stared in each others eyes for a few seconds until she nodded stiffly and sat back down on her knees.

_"I'm gonna wake him up, he'll scream."_ she said to Kaoru, who blanched_. "you gotta keep 'im calm while I work, after that, no talking." she sighed and shrugged off her shirt._

_"W-what are you doing?"_

_"He's gonna wanna scream a lot and I don't want anyone to come an' check it out." _after she set it down beside her, her arm reached out and she sharply prodded his shoulder. he screamed and his shoulder started to spasm immediately.

_"Calm him down!" _Mara barked and stuffed the sleeve of her sweat shirt into Hikaru's mouth_._

"Hikaru! Hikaru! it's fine, we're going to help," he ran his hands through his brothers hair and almost sobbed at the real tears that welled up in his eyes. "It'll-"

"Be painless!" Clare intervened, ruining the moment while giving Kaoru a look. "We just need you to relax and it'll be over in a minute." Kaoru kept rubbing his scalp and the twitching stopped gradually.

G_ood."_ at the sound of her voice, he started to squirm and yell things into the shirt, the spasming starting up again.

"Stop Hikaru! She's going to help you, let her help, okay? I can't stand seeing you like this anymore!" they gazed into each other's eyes and he relaxed again, his shoulder stopped moving slowly.

_"Okay." _she stood up and dusted off her jeans, the boys and cross dresser just noticed the tattoos on her arms. She walked a little closer and took Hikaru's limp arm, making him cry out and start spasming._ "Knock it off! This'll hurt more, be harder on me, and take longer if you don't relax. It'll only hurt for a minute, pussy." _The glare on his face was so pathetic, she chuckled. _"Just don't move until I tell you to."_ she kicked off her shoes and carefully, surprisingly, placed her socked foot on his ribs right under his arm pit._ "Turn your head away, and if this hurts don't scream, bite." _he grunted.

It happened so fast, he almost didn't keep up his end of the deal.

She pulled hard but her foot kept him in his place on the ground; pain shot through his body and he bit down so hard, he thought his teeth would break.

_"Done."_ with her foot removed, she squatted and took back her article of clothing._ "How d'ya feel?" _she smirked at the glare on his face but his body was relaxed._ "Good." _she went to touch his wrist, but he snapped his arm back, wincing in pain, so she took her arm back too, crossing it with the other over her chest and standing up_. "Ya don't have to let me check you out then."_ she looked to Kaoru_. "Check his pulse in that arm, be careful, he's prolly sore." _gently, he took his brother's wrist and checked his pulse, as told.

_"It's fine."_ she nodded, stood, and shrugged the shirt back on.

_"Press down on one of his fingernails on each hand and make sure they turn the same color." _once again, he did as told and nodded, even if she couldn't see it.

_"Yeah, they're the same."_

_"Well, I ain't a doctor, but you seem ready ta go back ta class, congraga-fuckin'-lations." _her head popped from the neck hole and her arms snaked though the limp sleeves._ "I pity you."_

_"W-we came to get you two."_ Hikaru's voice wavered against his will. she just shrugged and inspected her clothing article, sneering at the wet spot.

"_Sorry ta disappoint, but I most certainly ain't goin' back there." _she looked Kaoru straight in his eyes while Clare did the same with Haruhi, unusually serious with an icy glare on her face.

"Remember our deal." the blonde said in Japanese and stood up, walking over to her friend. They disappeared around the corner without looking back. It chilled Haruhi to the bone to see first hand how cold a person could be.

"What deal?" Hikaru looked at his brother with fierce eyes.

"I'll tell you later. You need to get to the nurse."

"I'm fine. What did you promise her?" he asked, or more like demanded, again. Haruhi, who has seen enough fighting for now, sighed.

"We promised that if she helped you we wouldn't tell anyone about what happened, we'll never bring it back up, and you two can't touch her again." Hikaru's eyes blazed in fury.

"What? You can't be serious! You could've taken me to the nurse or something and she would've had to go crawling back to the rock she lived under!"

"I couldn't just let you hurt like that! You actually passed out, Hikaru! I would've sold my soul to make you stop hurting!" Haru looked at the two with wide eyes, shocked to see a real brotherly love moment, not the twinsest they do in the host club.

Not even five seconds later, Hikaru turned away and mumbled a sorry that was just loud enough for his two companions to hear.

"Come on guys, we'll just say we couldn't find them."

With that thought, they trudged back to the classroom, Hikaru trying to ignore the acute pain around his shoulder and upper arm.


	5. Chapter 5: Damn Security

Tamara was one of the best people on God's green earth at the best of times. Generous, kind, caring, forgiving, and patient. **At the best of times.**

But this, unfortunately, was not the best of times.

Security was called to find them after they stormed out of the classroom. Unfortunately, they found them and had them in the chairman's office in ten minutes flat- from God knows where in the school with Tamara spitting and kicking the whole way. Then, they were patronized in a flamboyant way, the offender not even realizing how pissed he was making the brunette. To make matters worse, he wasn't reacting to her taunts- her clever, witty, and sarcastic remarks that were made for the sole purpose of hurting feelings, aggravating people, and making her happy. Instead, they were making her want to pull her hair out in frustration as he either took them as complements or simply ignored them.

For example:

"You girls have to understand, here in Japan we do not simply walk away from our instructors! We sit and show them respect and give them out complete attention- but worry not, you face no punishment. America must have turned you beautiful young ladies into brutes and savages."

"Yes," Tamara began, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms as she leaned against the smooth white wall, "please excuse us. Show us mercy and teach your ways."

Being a dense, naive rich man and not seeing the sarcasm for what it really was, the chairman struck a pose, finger in the air and a hand on his hip. "Yes! You must be entered in etiquette classes! We'll pay- of course; you commoners can't use your food money for luxuries such as this...

It went on and on- for close to an hour- before he realized the time and dismissed the two, now angry, ladies. Mara because of the innocent insulting and her well thought out remarks not having any effect on the flamboyant male, Clare because the ranting and raving of the before mentioned male cut into their lunch time significantly.

_"Shut the hell up, fat ass." _Mara growled and glared at her- soon to be ex- best friend.

_"No! No, I will not shut up! That idiot cut into my food time- FOOD TIME!" _arms waving above her head dramatically, she looked incredulously at her companion,_ "Do you know what I packed?"_

_"...the same thing I did...?" _it didn't seem to matter to the blonde, considering she kept raving about her delicious food choice.

"_The other pizza you made- the three meat- and put more cheese on it! Oh, my food...now I won't have time to savor it the way I should...I'll just have to-" _she stopped talking and froze in place, a look of horror etched on her pale face. "_No... Why...WHY?" _she dropped to the floor, her hands in her hair and looked to the beautifully carved ceiling and screamed _'WHY?' _

Standing awkwardly, Tamara debated kicking her friend or asking what happened. The scene she was making made her lean towards the first option.

She kicked, lighter than normal, her dramatically sobbing friend in the back, the movement sent her flying onto her face on the beautiful marble floor. "_What in the world is wrong with you?"_

Clare stopped sobbing and groaned, cradling her chest like she did at the airport just a few days earlier.

"_Mara! You don't understand! Food is my life! If I had no food I'd die!"_

_"we'd all die without food, ya dipshit." _her comment fell on deaf ears as her friend kept wining and overdramatically asking god to kill her now and have mercy on her poor soul.

Mara, tired of her voice and angry at everything at the moment, rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed irritably.

_"Look, if ya shut up, I'll give ya mine." _She sighed irritably and reached for her book bag, when she found it wasn't there she wanted to fall to the floor and scream.

"_What?" _there was a sharp poke in her side.

"_My motherfuckin' food is in the damn lion's den..."_ growling and glaring in the general direction of her English classroom.

It was quiet for about three seconds before Clare took off down the hall, skidding across the floor like a dog on hardwood.

"_Where the fuck are you going?" _ Mara yelled in confusion, watching her friend race down the long hallway.

"_To get the food! Just wait here, I'll be right back, I promise!"_

After watching her friend slide the corner into another hallway, Mara slid down the wall, coming to rest on the ground while rubbing her temples and breathing out agitatedly. She hasn't been in this bad of a mood since she was a little girl.

Footsteps rung throughout the spacious hallway, so she looked up and saw the weird French boy she was partnered up with, souring her mood even more.

"Princess! I was waiting for you at lunch! I-"

_"If you're gonna talk ta me, speak fuckin' English, or I will kick ya so hard in the balls, you'll get a vagina..." _she growled and pushed away the thought of being expelled for harming the chairman's son being pushed from her mind. It's really obvious that they're related, if not only by the last name, which she heard when he was announced to be her partner, then by the damn charisma and enthusiasm that seemed to ooze from their very beings.

_"S-sorry princess." _he grumbled and broke out in a cold sweat...see? He's even enthusiastic about being scared.

_"Don't call me that. My name's Tamara." _she glared hatefully at him. _"Wha'dya want? an' immah tell ya I ain't in the mood for no bullshit." _the blond was quickly over the threat of losing his male parts and he ,enthusiastically, bounded over to her; then proceeded to tell her his plan for their project, complete with over exaggerated movements.

_"Well, Mara-chan, I have our project all planned out!" _I won't down your I.Q.s with his mindless babble, but I will tell you that clowns, several peacocks, monkeys, a merry-go-round, and his club was involved._ "So, what do you think?" _He leaned on one foot, crossing his ankles and placed his hand under his chin, and then he proceeded to sparkle.

_"The fuck does that have ta do wit Japanese history, culture, or imports?" _he opened his mouth_ "Did I tell ya ta speak? No? Then don't" _she scowled and stood up, roughly meeting his bottom lip._ "Come over my apartment." _taking the pen she keeps in her back pocket, she pushed his sleeve to his elbow, and wrote down her street address and apartment number._ "If ya come over 'fore seven, I'll rip out your entrails and feed 'em ta ya, understood?" _after she received a nod, she relinquished her tight hold._ "Stupendous, now move outta my way, damn foreigner." _she pushed past him, sending him crashing into the wall to his left.

It's a good thing she didn't look back, he was giving her puppy dog eyes, so much like Clare's that she would've said sorry.

Five minutes later of storming through the school she finally realized her mistake.

She left her spot. The spot where she was supposed to meet Clare.

And she had no map, since they had memorized their classrooms and the route to them the day after their tour, for lack of nothing better to do. This, unfortunately, isn't of the routes she memorized.

So, she's lost.

In a huge ass school full of people who thinks she a temperamental hot head.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

_"This is exactly what I need. Fuck." _she slid down the wall and waited for someone to walk by, so she could demand directions. The mood that she's in won't let her ask for anything at the moment. While she could figuratively hear a clock ticking in her head, she freed her battered iPod from her pocket, picking a song; she mourned her baby's poor screen with a string of curses and a harsh glare. Sometimes, she wants to just break Clare's neck, but then she just pouts and...Her neck isn't broken.

_"Damn, I hate people..." _headphones safely in her ears, the world receded as a daydream over took her.

Was Mama alright? Did she already get the calls? Is Aunt Kane alright? And Uncle Jack? Did they get the calls, too?

Are her cousins okay?

Is Champ okay?

While she was silently pondering this, she almost missed the head of shocking red hair.

_"Aye yo! Com' 'ere for a sec!" _the boy, one Kasanoda Ritsu was shocked, to say the least, to hear someone call his name, since he didn't see anyone in the wide hall as he was walking down it.

_"U-uh, me?" _he turned quickly, eyes landing on a girl looking pretty plain, average in her neutral colored clothes, her eyes plain and hair that was kept in a messy pony tail boring.

_"Nah, the fucking Loch Ness Monster! Is there any other livin', breathin' thing 'round here, dumbass?" _if not just mildly offending him, she got his attention. She glared and sneered at him like she didn't care about his mean face, that itself made his stomach do a small flip and a little voice in the back of his mind wondering if she's always this rude.

He quickly rushed over to her, taking her bag as she stood and dusted herself off. This black article was very different from what the other girls are carrying around, but then again, this girl isn't acting like the other girls.

She snatched it back angrily, sneering at him as if she wasn't scared at all. It wouldn't surprise him if she wasn't.

_"The fuck do I get outta here?" _she demanded.

_"U-um, down the north hall, then-"_

_"I don't know my damn way 'round here!" _she growled angrily, glaring hatefully at him.

_"It's not my fault! Stop looking at me like that!"_

_"Don't fuckin' yell at me!"_

_"Then don't yell at me!"_

_"So, ya can tell me what ta do? Stupid rich fuckin' foreigner?" _she crossed her arms and shifted her stance, her eyebrow was cocked, daring him to say something else.

_"Excuse me, you needed me to tell you how to get out of here!"_

_"Well, I'd rather die in here then have some soulless, ginger, asshole tell me what ta do! Get fucked, dick mouth!" _she spit, hitting his right, shiny shoe.

_"Is that how a lady should act? You're disgusting." _her glare locked with his, a spark shot between them.

_"It's a good thing I don't give two fucks 'bout you, have a shitty life, hope you die." _she spit again, hitting his left shoe, before she turned on her heel, swinging the black bag onto her shoulder and making sure to hit him hard enough to knock him to the floor.

_"Do you know who I am?" _he yelled, getting over his momentary shock. He was shown her middle finger as she continued to saunter away from the scene.

_How dare he get an attitude with her? And what the fuck's with people asking if she knew them?_

_'Pardon me, you could buy my soul ten times over, let me bow to your feet, because I would enjoy keeping my soul! Thank you so much, Mr. Moneybags, sir! I should shoot myself just for thinking that, no matter how sarcastic it was.' _Countless minutes of rage induced storming later, she stopped at a ginormous window; judging by her view, it seems that she's on the first floor. It didn't make much sense because she could've sworn she stormed up stairs, but hey, she's not complaining. This is good, considering she was on the second floor; she's probably closer to the door now.

Sauntering through the halls, she took in her surroundings. This is slowly coming together. Light oak side tables held pink and white flowers and pict-no, paintings of people were appearing on the walls. Student body presidents for years 1, 2, and 3, the top student, someone called Kyoya Oo-something or another, the Chairman and his predecessors, so on and so forth. Finally ending on the Japanese flag, giant mahogany doors blocked her path to freedom. It took all of her being not so sigh out in relief, honestly! What in the hell made anyone on this planet want to build something so big and useless?

_"I'm really learnin' ta hate this place." _mumbling things along those lines, she pushed all her weight upon the doors, they opened tauntingly, slowly. Never once did they creek in the five minutes it took them to open, due to the generous amount of oil they are given almost daily.

Casting a dirty look to the wide open door, she strutted away from it, damn; she hopes this pink monstrosity gets broken into.

She found out on the ridiculously long walk to the front gate that that wasn't going happen. Muscled guards were blocking the exit. It just dawned on her poor, uncaffeinated brain that she forgot her damn ID. Sure, they know her and Clare as the Foreigners, which is how they got in...That means nothing now; in the few hours of school she's had she already has a reputation. Dangerous, vulgar, and just doesn't care. No one in their right mind would let her leave this hell hole without a note.

This is why Clare screws up her life...and she's scaling the sharp tipped fence. After a few minutes of watching the throng of people, she observed that they take turns circling the school, six at a time; three go left three right, but they leave at different times, five minutes after the first one goes to be exact. The first one gets back exactly ten minutes after according to her iPod.

She had to time this right. She snuck to the left waited two minutes after the second guard left before she began her dreadful climb. Never before has she been thankful that Thomas, Ryan, and their friends lose their things in trees almost all the time. They're basically family; she does anything for family. This includes ruining her clothes, splinters, and all things that come with scaling trees.

Expertly jumping as high as she could, which is pretty high, she grasped one of the long, thin, black poles, the dirt she rubbed on her hands (after pulling up enough of the luscious green grass to give the grounds keeper a heart attack) gave her enough traction to slide down a little slower than she usually would. She kept climbing, using the little leverage the unleveled bottoms of her shoes provided to help inch her up. She felt her thighs get wet and her hands begin to slip faster.

_'Don't fuckin' tell me that these ass fucks grease the damn bars! Them bein' 9 fuckin' feet tall and pointed don't cut it? Fuck me!' _Taking a quick look up, she saw that there was only a foot or so left. 'I guess it's now or never...and I didn't come all this way for shit.' It's not just about getting away, now she has to finish this.

Thrusting her leg up, the arch of her left foot catching on one of the small spaces between spikes. Right arm doing the same, she grasped the bar with everything she had. Just dangling there, she clenched her jaw and reached up. All of her upper body strength was used to pull the rest of her up and over the rest of the way. During the flip, she had to move her right hand, and accidently cut it from her palm all the way to her pinky tip and, as she was swinging, her left leg got a deep cut just above her knee. It happened so fast, she didn't feel it until she tucked and rolled a few feet away from the iron menace. Oh boy, did she feel it then.

_"Holy mother fucking shit!" _she hissed loudly, wincing as pain shot through her wounds.

"Who goes there?" a voice yelled from her left, the third guard; damn, that took way longer than she expected. As the man came running to the scene she quickly ran to a large weeping willow. He called into his walkie-talkie the huge dirt patch and different colored bars, a possible break in. Shit just got real.

_'The shit changes color?' _it shouldn't have surprised her, but it hit her harder than a train ever could. He did a quick look around before looking closer at the evidence...then she ran.

She ran as fast as anyone ever could and as quietly as anyone ever could.

In sixty seconds, she was gone. Only leaving a little blood and a fresh patch of dirt from hershoes.

Barely breathing and praying for death, the brunette flopped ungracefully into a booth at a café about half a mile from the school. She ran half a mile. She almost couldn't believe it. Have you ever done that? With a leg wound? It's hard, painful, and could be classified as cruel and unusual punishment.

"E-excuse me miss? Are you all right?" holding up her left hand I a 'wait a minute' sign, she laid her head on her arm, which was on the table, the cut was covered by her sleeve. "You're disrupting the other customers."

_"W-what did ya jus' say ta me?" _the edge in her voice made his shiver ever so slightly, her panting not helping at all, she was like an angry wolf. _"In English."_

_"Y-you're disrupting the others..."_

_"Does it look like I care?"_

_"I-it's just, your appearance..." _without another word, she took off her sweat shirt, which actually lived up to it's name that day, laid it front down on her pants, hiding the brown line on both articles and the rip in her jeans, then she took out her hair bow using one hand, since the scratched one would get a lot of attention and get blood in her hair .It fell in messy curls fell around her shoulders and down her back now that the half undone ponytail was gone.

_"Water, a lot of water." _after digging around in her pockets, she pulled out a twenty. She drank ten dollars' worth of water and let the waitress keep the rest as a tip.

_"See you on Thursday." _the badass swaggered out the door without saying another thing, holding her shirt lightly in her hand. The woman was confused until she finally remembered; she hired that girl a few days ago.

Hopefully, she won't regret it.

After she got home, she quickly checked over her cuts, the one on her hand wasn't deep, the one on her leg was fairly long and pretty deep, not to mention they both hurt like a motherfucker and would both scar.

The shower that she took soon after didn't help either, it burned like hell to be exact, but it was severely needed since she felt dirty and gross.

When Clare came home, you could imagine how pissed and worried she was to see the girl she thought of as family to be bandaged and reading while she was close to an hour late because of the lockdown they had. Mara was smacked pretty hard for laughing.

_"Leave me alone, I'll be fine. I bandaged it, see?"_ a brunette was sitting on her recliner, the foot rest was up, but her legs were crossed, school work was resting in her lap.

_"That's beside the point! Damn it, why did you do that in the first place? We went on lock down!"_

She snickered, a smirk breaking out. _"Honestly? I thought you actually found something to do after school!"_

Clare, who was cranky and worried, sneered, walked over to the snickering girl, and smacked her upside the head.

_"It's fine ain't it?"_ Mara sneered back at her friend, rubbing her head before getting up and collecting the papers that fell to the floor. _"I'll just get in trouble tomorrow, no big deal."_

_"You're missing the point! You not only left, you hurt yourself!"_

_"Look,"_ she straightened herself and set the papers and books on the chair. _"I was gonna do somethin' stupid if I didn't get out a there."_

_"You did do something stupid!"_

_"Ya know what I mean."_ She sighed and ran her hand over her tattooed neck, liking the way the cloth rubbed. _" It ain't like I meant ta fuck myself up, shit jus' happens." _

All of a sudden, pain shot up her arm, making her wince and yelp slightly in surprise and pain. The glare the blonde received after was one of her most fierce.

_"What do ya think you're doin'?"_ she growled and tried to tug her arm away.

_"You didn't even wrap it right! Did you even clean it? Put alcohol on it?"_

_"I took a shower. That's 'bout it." _She growled, tugging at her hand again. It's times like these that she hates how her best friend's mother is a nurse. The resistance made Clare hold on tighter, thus making Mara hiss obscenities.

_"Let me dress them, at least."_

_"I did jus' fine on my own."_

_"Your hand's turning purple." _When nothing was said after that, Clare slowly undid the wrapping. Her eyes winded and she stared.

_"Hurry it up, ya still have ta do my leg and I have ta make dinner…don't give me that look, I can still walk and hold things._

_"Do you not see these gashes? You shouldn't be doing anything but sleeping!" _Mara sighed and rubbed her face with her free hand.

"_I have too much ta do, you know I can't. If you're not gonna fix me up, then immah go make dinner." _She made to stand up, only to be pushed down.

"_Don't move." _Ten minutes of cleaning, cussing and wrapping later, Mara was standing and shaking long loose curls from her face as she headed for the kitchen.

_"Don't make anything to complicated- just bake some chicken nuggets and fries."_

_"Yeah, yeah. Doesn't matter much ta me." _ As she stepped closer to the kitchen loud, raping knocking sounded on the door. When I say rapid, it sounded like one long knock.

"_Shit, what time is it?" _ Mara staggered toward the door, looked out the peephole and spotted a blond Frenchman.

"_7 o'clock exactly. Why?" _Letting out enough curses to make a catholic woman faint, Mara stuffed her copy of Romeo and Juliet between the cushions of the couch and looked for a scrunchie._ "Who's at the door?" _Clare asked getting up and walking to the wooden slab.

_"That weird French boy I gotta do that damn project wit."_

_"What?" _she rushed to her room, whisper yelling about something Mara didn't catch and had couldn't care less about. Hopefully she went to put some pants on, but you never know with her.

The guy knocked again, slower thankfully.

_"Tamara-san? Are you home?"_

_"Hold on a sec!" _the door received a glare as the blonde was willed away. After a few seconds, she continued to search for a scrunchie and anything that might embarrass her and Clare in the long run. The book was the only thing that had to be hidden, everything else was pretty normal...besides the colors that is. With a final look over, I limped over to the door, opening it with my left hand.

He was dressed in what must've been casual clothes for the rich. a form fitting long sleeved white shirt, more than likely designer, and tight jeans, again more than likely designer.

_"Hello Tamara-san." _smiling charmingly, he stooped into a bow._ "Thank you for inviting me into your home."_

_"Whatever...jus' hurry up an' come in. it's freezing out there." _stepping back and forcing herself not to limp, she headed to the livingroom and searched.

_"What happened to your hand?"_

_"Nothin'. Don't ask 'bout it._

_"Bu-"_

_"Did I fuckin' stutter?"_

_"No but-"_

_"Say it again and immah throw ya out." _he, thankfully, stopped talking._ She pushed the hair out of her face and continued searching._

_"What are you looking for?" he asked timidly, standing awkwardly by the door._

_"Somethin' ta put my hair up wit." _mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear.

_"Why? Your hair looks perfect." _isn't he the charmer? Manwhore.

_"Don't be a kiss up, it won't get ya nowhere." _he stopped talking and she spent a few more minutes looking for the damned piece of fabric. It's not really that she cares about how she looks, really she can't force herself to give a shit, but she just can't think straight with loose hair. Her brain shuts down and nothing would get done. And this needs to done as soon as possible on her opinion.

_"Sit down somewhere, I swear." _She grumbled, going down the hall. _"Don't touch nothin', I'll be back."_

She arrived at her room and began sorting through her things, first going to the dresser and looking by the small TV, moving a few books that didn't fit on the shelves she'd installed.

"_Coulda sworn I just had a pack a the damn things." _ As she was looking, she didn't notice Tamaki peak into the room and set his eyes solely on Marvin.

"_This is adorable! Where ever did you get it! I need one!" _ The blonde nosedived into the bed, gathered the pink animal in his arms, and began to snuggle it. It smelled of strawberries and vanilla.

"_What the hell did I tell ya? I'll tell ya what I told ya, I told ya ta stay in the damn livin' room and what did ya do? I'll tell ya what the fuck ya did, ya followed me!" _Tamaki peeked at her over the mass of pink fluff in his arms.

"_It's so cute though…" _he pouted and gave her his best puppy dog eyes. Her glare wavered and with one more sneer, she turned away and continued searching while rubbing her neck and mumbling things he couldn't quite make out. Ten minutes of talking (in Tamaki's case) and yelling (in Tamara's case) at inanimate objects later, Tamara finally gave up and stormed off to Clare's room. Tamaki could hear the banging from his seat on the comfy bed.

"_open this damn door right fuckin' now!"_

_"No! I'm getting ready!"_

_"You ain't got nothin' I don't got or ain't seen before!"_

A door creaked open.

"_WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"_

* * *

**8 pages; 4,594 words; and a lot of I'm sorries? Hope you enjoyed and don't hate me too much!**


	6. Chapter 6: Damn School

Her hair was a mass of dark curls, nothing short of a mane, and the longest part reached the elastic band of her black sweatpants, which could be seen thanks to the hem of her baggy dark blue t-shirt was tucked into it in the back. The shoulders of the shirt were lopsided, one in it's appropriate place and the other hanging off and showing the strap of her sports bra. The exposed skin was lighter than her hands, feet, and face because of lack of sunlight. The left leg of her dark pants was rolled up to the bottom of her knee; this showed more of her slightly paler skin, and a butterfly tattoo that was cut in half by a silver anklet that had started to rust slightly from being worn in showers.

Her look was very different from Clare's who was wearing very revealing black lingerie, a lot of makeup, and perfume. Her sun kissed skin held no blemishes or marks and her perfume was intoxicating. Hair ruffled and lips pursed, what would really through you off is the insane amount of makeup.

"_I tried to warn you." _Clare said with a grin, fingering the hem of her see-through slip, which just covered her ass, by the way.

"_You is so damn nasty! Ya said ya were gettin' dressed, I thought ya was gonna get some damn pants on! Honestly woman, I'm tryin' ta do a project!"_

"_And I'm trying to seduce your partner, I told you before- you can't expect me not to try! I'm a scientist! He's a new species!"_

_Mara looked at her like she was on crack._

"_I can't believe the things ya do sometimes- they're so damn stupid!" _she looked at her as if asking 'really' before trying to run her right hand through her hair, expecting her fingers to get caught on a knot and ignored the pain, put her left hand on her hip, and looked at the ceiling, asking it why.

"_Tamara-san is everything…."_ he came out of the room, still hugging Marvin, and froze. Marvin fell from his grasp and his jaw hit the ground. "_C-C-Clare-san-n?!" _his eyes resembled dinner plates "_What on Earth are you wearing?" _he was inching back towards the bedroom.

"_Tamaki, I think ya ought a be goin' home now. We'll have to do this some other time." _She sighed and trudged to her bedroom door, picking up the unicorn and tossing on her bed before closing the door and shaking her hair from her face.

"_O-okay…I'll call later?" _he asked, looking into her eyes.

"_Yeah it's only…" _leaning past him, she looked at the clock hanging on the livingroom wall. "_7:30, I'll be up until at least 2."_

With a brisk nod and still not looking at Clare, he walked out of the apartment.

Mara sighed and slumped.

"_Immah have ta bring him his things tomorrow."_

Clare pouted and slumped as well.

"_I just unwrapped your birthday present for nothing."_

They both sighed and slumped a little bit more.

"_That sucks."_

The bedroom door was already shut and locked before Mara's brain cataloged the meeting.

"_What the fuck did ya jus' say, ya idiot?!" _she asked, venom in her voice, as she turned around, only to hear the slamming of Clare's door and the lock clicking into place.

"_This is just a mouth fulla ass…"_

She looked to her things, sitting just on her recliner and table, just where she left them.

But her laptop is in her room…

She compromised with herself, going instead into the kitchen and putting the chicken nuggets and fries in the oven, then sitting on the counter with her legs crossed, precalculus book sitting in her lap and a pencil in her left hand as she considered the problems, chewing on the metal bit at the end and toying with the pink eraser that she'd set by her thigh. Her laptop stood away from all harm on the kitchen island and was blasting out some '80s and '90s music from a playlist.

'_This couldn't suck more if it tried._' She thought and looked at the book again, not really seeing it. Moving and this school is just fucking her up. Usually she can keep organized and calm even in the most hectic of times, but there is just one thing that can make her lose her head.

Drastic changes.

In America she wouldn't have yelled at a teacher or student, she wouldn't have been so rough when she was telling Tamaki how to get to her house and she wouldn't have broken out of a school, instead she'd bite her tongue and bid her time. But being so far away from her family and everything that she knows has made her nervous and worried, but she shows it in different ways, she gets angry and agitated at the world. The only thing keeping her even a little bit sane is Clare; if she was alone then she'd already be arrested.

"_Mara? Are you still mad?"_ Clare popped her makeupless face into the kitchen; Mara didn't even look up, instead choosing to decipher a word problem on her paper.

"_Depends on if you was really gonna give me that damn rag._"

"_If I was?"_

"_Fuck you then."_

"_Com'on Mara! It was just gonna be a joke, I was gonna get you something good!"_

"_Don't lie ta me."_

"_I'll get you something better now that you know about it?"_

The book snapped closed, pencil and a piece of paper keeping her place_. "That's more like it." _She put the eraser in her pocket as she slipped onto the floor soundlessly and worked her way to the table, pausing the music and shutting the machine.

"_Dinner'll be ready soon-why didn't ya put on some damned pants?"_

"_I feel as though they constrict me and I will not wear them unless absolutely necessary." _The grinning blonde informed as she sat herself at the table wearing a baggy shirt that she'd barrowed from Mara.

"_You wore pants at the sleepovers…" _the words were mumbled as the brunette reached to take the golden and crispy pieces of meat and potato from the oven.

"_My dad always had friends over and it'd be weird having your cousins seeing me in my underwear, wouldn't it?" _when nothing was said back and a plate of food was slid under her nose, she knew her friend agreed. "_Do we have-?" _a bottle of mustard was tossed at her while Tamara rummaged the fridge.

This made Clare smile.

"_Ketchup's on the counter." _the bottle was in her hand the moment the door was snapped shut.

"_Thanks, thought we forget it again." _

It wasn't long before she was at the table, her plate the exact opposite of Clare's, and popped one of her few nuggets into her mouth, holding one of her many fries in her hand as she worked out problems with the other, laptop in the seat of an unused chair.

They talked about nothing, Clare actually earning a bark of laughter every now and again with her stupid stunts.

All too soon, she'd flashed the guards (who doubled up) her ID and was escorted to the chairman without his usual sparkle.

Standing in front of the chairman's desk with a scowl on her face and arms crossed.

She knew she was going to get in trouble for her escape, but that in no way shape or form meant that she had to be happy about it.

"_Do you have any idea of the uproar that you caused? We went on lockdown because of your stunt! If you had just asked me, I would have allowed you to go home!"_

"_I was 'bout ta level this damned place! Do ya really think that it even crossed my mind to ask if I could leave? No, for your information, it didn't!"_

"_Ms. Nicholson, if your behavior isn't going to change, I'm going to have to send you back to America!" _he stood up and leaned over the desk, fingers spread.

"_ , I could never repay you for that!" _she stood in the same fashion as he, their noses almost touching as they glared daggers at each other.

"_You put my students in danger!"_

"_Please enlighten me on how I did that, exactly! You know, just in case I want to do it again"_

More glaring_._

"_Are you always this...irritating?!" _he yelled

"_Too bad for you, you caught me on a good day!" _

Sarcasm dripped from her lips as she spoke around her clenched teeth. What in the universe did she do to have all this wonderful shit to rain down upon her?

The tit-for-tat only stopped because he had a meeting, then she was sent to 3rd block with detention for a month.

With this damned project, that means she'd have to come in an hour early.

Perfect.

And she missed lunch.

Fucking fabulous.

Clare's outside the office and seems to be waiting for her…Mara's in a pissy mood and will probably take it out on her.

"_Is… is everything okay?"_

"_Does anything look okay to you, Clarabelle?"_

"…_No?"_

"_Look, you said something intelligent for once!" _she scowled at whatever had the displeasure of being in front of her, snake bites twitching and left ear turning red from her constant rubbing. Clare must have got the picture and didn't say anything for the rest of their walk except a small and quiet goodbye as the parted ways, Clare to History and Mara to music room 3, where she was going to meet her Japanese tutor.

And the shit just keeps falling.

She opened the door to find the tall Four Eyes from Japanese class.

"_Don't tell me your my damn tutor." _A dark aura began to seep from her very being and filled the room. He didn't even blink as he smiled a fake smile_._

"_I would appreciate it if you don't vandalize the furniture, this room is used for other activities." _He pushed his glasses up higher on his nose and a glare formed so she couldn't see his coal black eyes.

"_I won't make any promises." _She growled before stalking over to the only chair in the room, the one right across from him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, him typing on his laptop and going through papers and she examining her nails.

"_Your Japanese is terrible for someone who should have been told well before arriving here that they were coming to Japan." _She merely shrugged and reached into her back pocket, producing a mechanical pencil that she used to clean the dirt from under her nails.

"_You're here to help me, so it doesn't matter." _She mumbled, not even glancing at him_._

"_You don't seem too happy about that." _She sighed and felt his eyes on her_._

"_I'm not. I could learn this on my own."_

"_ doesn't seem to think so." _She sneered_._

"_ can suck my dick."__nothing more was said as he typed on his laptop._

_"I don't understand why you must be so vulgar and rude."_

_"I am 'cause I can be, now let's get this damn show on the road or I'm jus' gonna go ta sleep."_

_He sighed, pulling out two books, one a student copy and the other a teacher's copy._

_"We'll start out slow, read pages 386 through 394 then and then answer the questions, then get my attention."_

_Thirty minutes into the lesson, she snapped the book shut and glared at him._

_"I would appreciate it if ya wouldn't fuckin' stare at me." She growled_

_"How else am I going to know the best way to teach you?"_

_"Ask me how I like to learn?" __her voice was sarcastic__._

_"Okay, Ms. Nicholson, how do you like to learn?" __His voice was just as sarcastic as hers__._

_"Reading, but I doubt you'll just let me read, huh?"_

_"Not unless it's a Japanese text book." __He smirked._

_"I hate you."_

_"I can assure you, the feeling's mutual."_

_They glared._

_"The sooner you read the passage and answer the questions, the more free time you'll have." _

_Pencil in her left hand and grumbling about four-eyed freaks, she began to translate the Japanese into English._

_"You have a very peculiar way of doing things, Ms. Nicholson." __She didn't answer__._

_"Aren't you right handed?" __still no answer._

_"What happened to your hand, Ms. Nicholson?" __finally, she rose to his taunts._

_"Shut the hell up, I'm trying to fuckin' work!"_

_He was silent and had a triumphant look upon his face._

_Three hours later (Because it turned out that she had double Japanese tutoring) she finally finished her work and was in the middle of a very good nap when she was woken up._

_Four-eyes didn't even flinch when she glared at him, the whore._

_And now she's trudging to her fifth block, glaring and sneering._

_Everyone and their mother better be thankful that science is her next block. And that it's her favorite._

_"__Hello Tamara. Having a nice day?" __the teacher, Mrs. Doni, asked with a smile on her face._

_"__Does it look like I am?" __she snapped, slamming her things down on the desk in the back right corner, she didn't even care about the teacher's slightly accented English. It wasn't long before Mrs. Doni was in front of her desk, leaning on it._

_"I just moved here a couple years ago from England. Barely knew this damn language and still get mixed up now and then. Trust me, I know how you feel." __Mara's eyebrow was raised and a smirk crawled on her face. Any teacher that has the balls to cuss in school, especially a high-end one that probably pays well, is in her good graces._

_"But, I met my husband about three years ago while he was studying in England and he convinced me he wanted to get married here. We did under sakura trees about a year ago and it was beautiful, so I stayed. This place grows on you." __She crossed her legs and smiled ginger hair in a long braid over her shoulder and milk chocolate brown eyes shining__. "Get ready for today, we're working in groups."_

_The woman fell from her semi- high perch in Tamara's good grace._

She laughed and walked to the front of the class, smile showing perfect teeth.

These boys weren't the best at science, that much she could tell.

"_Mara-chan, what did we do wrong?" _the blond was panicking, running around the table and yelling. The only reaction was Mrs. Doni smirking her way and a hateful glare from Hitomi, who was working with who she assumed was the class nerd; AKA, who she really wanted to work with.

"_First of all, quit runnin' 'fore ya fall in it." _She sighed, looking at the fizzing purple mixture that was supposed to be liquid yellow with a red precipitate in it._ "And go up to get another beaker." _She looked pointedly at the short one.

It took three more failed tries before she decided to take the reins, provoked by the triumphant look on Hitomi's face as she got the finished product and the nerd moved, shyly shuffling his feet.

She leaned as close as she could to Mitsukuni without actually touching him and smirked at Hitomi's red face.

She didn't notice Mitsu's pink dusted cheeks.

"_Tamara-san, Tamara-san!_ I've found somewhere we could work!" Tamara and Clare turned around, not even a yard from the large oak doors; the Host Club King stopped a foot short of crashing into them.

"_I was wonderin' when I'd see ya today."_ She adjusted the bag that was hanging loosely off of her shoulder.

Tamaki grinned in what might've been a charming manner; the grin flew over Mara's head and hit Clare in the face at full force.

"Well, let's go!" grabbing Mara's wrist with a strong grip, she looked at Tamaki expectantly. Tamaki looked a little uncomfortable, Mara suspected from last night and Clare assumed Mara was making him uncomfortable with the glare she knew was on her friend's face. After a moment, they sprinted down the hall, dragging a protesting brunette behind them.

"You're so damn embarrassing. They're tryin' ta work, leave 'em 'lone." Mara's hands were tucked in her pockets as she sauntered up behind Clare, who was making the trio very uncomfortable as the twins messed with Haruhi.

"How many times do I have to say it?" she asked, rolling her eyes. She pointed at herself with her thumb. "Scientist." Then gestured at them with her hand. "New species."

Hikaru watched the duo bicker back and forth, a glare and sneer set on his pale face. These girls, looking harmless and causing the ladies to giggle at their playful (in a way) insults, caused him a great deal of pain and his brother to cry a little over 24 hours ago.

They were wolfs in sheep's clothing.

And he didn't trust them.

Especially the brunette, at least the blonde made her help. But they were both cold, which he knew well.

The blonde was nursing her head and the brunette stretched, her eyes scanning the room. Then their eyes met, honey gold against dark chocolate brown. The staring (glaring) contest only stopped because a certain blonde king swept in between them.

"_I've explained to my guests, we may work on the project now!" _he spun in a circle, not touching her but coming really close.

It took everything in him and literally biting his tongue to keep from saying something.

Kaoru, on the other hand, was only a little apprehensive. It was, in a way, their fault that she'd hurt them.

Even if she'd kind of overreacted.

As the King led her away to a table close to a large window, the perverted grin fell from Clare's face, leaving an out of place serious look.

"I'm sorry for yesterday. She's been under stress lately and has a phobia of human contact. Really, if you get to know her she's pretty friendly."

"We saw you clinging to her; she didn't do anything to you." Hikaru hissed, keeping his voice down so not to make a scene.

"It wasn't always like that, at the beginning of 3rd grade I hugged her for the first time, she started thrashing and screaming. Her aunt had to pick her up early and she didn't come back to school for two days. I didn't try again until the end of 6th grade. She still freaks out a little if I catch her off guard"

She stared at the project planners, Mara talking and Tamaki enthusiastically nodding and writing. There was a small smirk on her face as she looked over and made eye contact with all 4 of them, waving when she met Clare's gaze before paying attention to the paper and pouting blond.

Haruhi just sighed and asked her customers if they wanted more tea, which most said yes and watched her pour it. It never occurred to her that there was some underlying reason to Tamara pushing the twins off of her besides not liking the idea of being forced to do something she didn't want. Then again, she never really thought about it, figuring that it wasn't her business and she dropped the whole thing after seeing Hikaru writing normally.

Even now, it's not her business and she's willing to let bygones be bygones and forget about the whole thing. The only thing that she's reminded of talking about this with Clare is the unnaturally cold look that she had on her face and Tamara's unwillingness to correct her mistake or help someone in obvious pain.

"Just…just give her a chance to get use to you, you'll be glad you did…" she looked to her friend and a smile crawled onto her face. "She's very loyal."

With the Stare of Want back in place, she snuck around the room. To anyone who spared her a glance she looked like a kid in a candy shop that couldn't decide which one she wanted.

"_C'mon Bimbo, we leavin'." _Mara said as she swaggered behind the girl, who was watching Mori watch Honey eat cake.

"_But it's not even 5:00 yet!" _She whined and reluctantly looked to the brunette, a pout on her face.

"_Well, I ain't got the things we need. We gonna be back tomorrow, so get up off your ass and let's go. Still got shit to do."_

"_Like practicing Japanese, _Nicholson-san?"

"_Bite me, uppity prick! I'll get to it when I fuckin' get to it."_

"Good night, Nicholson-san."

"_Yeah yeah, whatever. C'mon dumbass!"_

"_Up yours, asswipe!" _Clare yelled as Mara went out the large door. "Bye everyone! See you soon!"

They watched her leave and returned to their own tasks of cleaning and calling their drivers to pick them up.


End file.
